Cimarron, Bataan Marathon and San Juan River

[Bruce Day]

The purpose of the trip was to do the marathon. Doc Dick Dow came out from SoCal in his van and joined me. Dick's real father was a Lt under Patton and was killed in a tank in France in WWII. His stepfather was a Bataan Death March survivor and finished a military career after his return. He survived the 60 mile march where the Japanese bayoneted stragglers and those who fell from sickness or dehydration. He then survived being torpedoed and sunk twice in a POW ship to Japan, and survived captivity where 10,000 men died. We wore t shirts with his fathers name.

So many of the Bataan force was from New Mexico and Texas and so they do this marathon march yearly. 3800 people, mostly military, many carrying heavy packs, many female soldiers, many wounded warriors. Tough tough conditions, sand blowing dust 35 mph winds, uphill, deep sand, 26 miles. Dick had his son and several friends fly out from Sacramento, one is a young former Army capt disabled from an RPG blast.

Met several people on the march including another young Army West Pointer major who had crashed a helicopter and crushed both femors, replaced by titanium. He has to prove to the Army he is capable so he did the march with a heavy pack. Others were walking on one or two artificial legs, or blinded and hanging on to a buddy's pack. So when you see this , you don't whine.

There is a photo of an 83 year old who has done marathons in every state. We had people from 47 states and 8 foreign countries. Big contingent of German troops.

Several elderly survivors were in attendance. We were honored to meet them. Great for me to be back among the military. The march was difficult but we made it every step of the way, and then were sore for the next couple days. Dick is 68, I'm 66 and we said that day that we wouldn't do it again, but then we started talking about next year.

So here are photos from the White Sands Missile Range and the march. The first few are of the post museum. Much of the early missile and atomic weaponry was developed there. There is an original V2 rocket and test missiles of display.