DVS News:

SANTA FE — The New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services (DVS) has produced a video highlighting the Bataan Remembrance Day April 8 in Santa Fe.

The ceremony is presented every year by the New Mexico National Guard, along with the DVS, to honor the 1,800 men of the New Mexico National Guard who were in the Philippines Dec. 8, 1941, when Japan launched a surprise attack on that country.

The attack came just hours after Japan launched the infamous attack on the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. 

The ceremony in Santa Fe honors those National Guard members, for being part of the 75,000 American and Filipino soldiers who were surrendered to the Japanese invasion force by U.S. command. The Americans and Filipinos were then forced by their captors to walk more than 60 torture-filled miles to prison camps—in what has come to be known as the Bataan Death March.

The New Mexico Department of Veterans Services videotaped the ceremony and has produced a video of a short history behind the efforts of those defenders of the Bataan Peninsula, and with highlights of the ceremony.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXdFT2aYAiQ 

The New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services

The New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services (DVS) provides support and services to New Mexico’s 144,134 veterans and their families. DVS treats every veteran, regardless of their rank achieved during military service, with the respect and gratitude befitting someone who has served our country. We strive every day to live up to our agency’s official motto: Serving Those Who Served.