Bataan Death March - Memorials and Commemorative Events

Memorials and Commemorative Events

Dozens of memorials (including monuments, plaques and schools) dedicated to the prisoners who died during the Bataan Death March exist across the United States and in the Philippines. A wide variety of commemorative events are held to honor the victims, including holidays, athletic events such as ultramarathons, and memorial ceremonies held at military cemeteries.

The Bataan Death March had a large impact on the state of New Mexico. Eighteen hundred New Mexico soldiers from the 200th/515th Coast Artillery of the National Guard were deployed to the Philippines in WWII. Only half these soldiers survived, and within a few years after the war almost one half more had died. The New Mexico National Guard Bataan Memorial Museum is located in the Armory where the soldiers of the 200th and 515th were processed before their deployment to the Philippines in 1941. Every year, in early spring, a rigorous 26.2-mile march/run is conducted at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, in honor of the service members who defended the Philippine Islands during WWII. As of May 2012 there were 60 survivors, 31 of whom reside in New Mexico. Many of these survivors were teens at the time and had lied about their ages to gain entry into the military. The oldest living survivor died at the age of 105 in 2011..