New Mexico National Guard
The 200th and 515th Coastal Artillery from New Mexico took a major part in the Bataan Death March. There was approximately 1,800 men in this regiment. They fought to keep Japan at bay while the rest of the soldiers retreated to the Bataan Peninsula. Many of them were captured and also forced to make the march.
Unit and Home Stations were:
Regimental Headquarters – Deming Headquarters Battery – Deming Regimental Band – Albuquerque Medical Detachment – Albuquerque HQ & HQ Battery, 1st BN – Albuquerque Battery A – Albuquerque Battery B – Albuquerque Battery C – Santa Fe Battery D – Gallup HQ & HQ Battery, 2nd BN – Clovis Battery E – Clovis Battery F – Carlsbad Battery G – Silver City Battery H – Taos http://www.bataanmuseum.com/bataanhistory/ |
Some of the men of the Artillery did not make the March. They were at different places. Hospitals, stations, evacuations, and at least 14 men of these men are known to have escaped the Death March. The ones who didn't were taken as Prisoners of War. (POW's)
Everyone in town hoped the battery would have better luck in this war than the last time it left home. In 1941 about 120 enlisted men and officers from Silver City were in th e Philippines as Battery G of the 200th Antiaircraft Regiment. Their guns burned out firing at Japanese planes, and at the end they were turned into ingantry to protect MacArthur's retreat. After the fall of Bataan in April 1942 almost all the survivors joined the grisly "Death March" from Bataan to Japanese prison camps. Less than half ever came home. |