Their Past, their Glory, our Thanks

On March 27 the Twenty-second Annual Bataan Memorial Death March 2011 was held at the foot of the Organ Mountains in the high desert terrain of White Sands Missile Range at White Sands, New Mexico. My thirty-nine year old son was among the thousands of participants from all fifty sates and five foreign countries who gathered to either march or run the 26.2 mile marathon to commemorate the occasion.

My son, who is a civilian, was a runner, but all members of the military who chose to participate were required to complete the march wearing full uniforms and carrying a pack weighing a minimum of 35 pounds—which they did in approximately six hours!

This past Sunday I had lunch with my son and his wife, and they were full of stories about the experience. We live only about fifty miles from White Sands, so they were accustomed to the special challenges that desert climates present. The temperature that day ranged from 40 degrees in the early morning when the march began to 80 degrees that afternoon. In addition, the participants had to deal with a 35 mile-an-hour head wind with the accompanying blowing sand that filled their eyes and nostrils.  It was not, however, the challenges of the march itself that my son and daughter-in-law talked about; it was the participants who captured their imaginations.

They were greeted at the starting line by Sgt. Oscar L. Leonard from the 28^th Heavy Bomb Squadron who was a prisoner forced to make the notorious Bataan Death March which began on April 9, 1942. The sixty-mile journey lasted five days for some and up to twelve days for others. It was brutal, but Sgt. Leonard and his fellow survivor, ninety-five-year-old Tony Reyna, who arrived at this year’s event in a wheelchair, did not talk about their sacrifices. They smiled quietly and shook hands with the marchers, who thanked them for their service.

Although Leonard and Reyna did not share the details of their experiences—Leonard was subsequently tortured repeatedly during the four years of his captivity---history gives us some vivid eye-witness accounts of what that first march entailed. The march began with 76,000 prisoners—12,000 Americans and 64,000 Filipinos. It was a sixty-mile journey during which 5,200 Americans died from disease, lack of food and water, exposure to the scorching sun, and severe abuse by the Japanese. The prisoners were not allowed to help their comrades, and any who were unable to continue were shot. One young Captain who was discovered to have some Japanese Yen in his pocket was beheaded as his fellow prisoners watched.

All of the heroes at the march were not “ninety somethings,” however. Eighteen Wounded Warriors also participated. These Wounded Warriors were made up of both single and double amputees, but they were there to brave the fluctuating temperatures and blowing sand to march in honor of those who had gone before them to defend our country.

The event’s motto is: Their past, their glory, our thanks. I believe that just about sums it up. We have so much for which to be thankful. God has allowed us to live in the greatest country in the world. Our history is filled with accounts of the courage and sacrifice of those who went before us, and our young men and women are still sacrificing their lives and limbs to keep our country safe and free. Let us never forget to be thankful for the courage and sacrifice of those who gave so much and for those who continue to serve so that we may continue to be free. 

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