Liberation & Aftermath
Return and remembrance
It took two devastating atomic bombs dropped on Japan to finally convince Emperor Hirohito to surrender and end Japanese aggression in WWII. It was unacceptable in the Japanese culture to surrender, and without the dropping of the bombs, there would most likely have been continued loss of troops and civilians in the war-torn areas, and widespread losses in Japan as Allied forces plans for occupation forged ahead. Japanese women and children were training and being armed to fight the enemy to the end if their country was invaded.
The Japanese government, because of the advancing Allies and their success in recapturing parts of the Philippines, had issued a directive that all POWs were to be annihilated. The slaughter had begun on the Philippine island of Palawan, the Palawan Massacre of 150 POWs in December 1944. There were several soldiers from the 200th/515th that were killed in the massacre, including Pfc. Trinidad Otero from Willard, Pvt. Santiago Saiz from Peralta, Jose Mascarenas from Penasco, Henry Scally from Silver City, and Charles Schubert from Albuquerque. Albert Pacheco from Deming miraculously survived. The event underscored a brutal reality: the human cost had become unsustainable, and a swift conclusion to the conflict was imperative.
After the Japanese surrendered, the major task ahead was finding POWs in Japan and its wide spread territories, including Manchuria and Korea. The rescue of POWs in was a chaotic, high-speed race against time. Allied leaders feared the Japanese might execute prisoners or that they would succumb to starvation and disease.
Upon liberation in August,1945, the members of the 200th and 515th Coast Artillery units, who were spread out in camps across Japan and as far as Manchuria, reacted to the news of Japan's surrender with immense relief, disbelief, and profound emotional exhaustion. These war-weary, sick, and underweight survivors were often too weak or emotionally drained to celebrate, with many spending their first days in safety receiving emergency medical treatment. Nevertheless, they were overjoyed when parachutes full of food were dropped into camps, and they ate heartily for the first time in years, often to the point of getting sick.
Being the feisty New Mexicans they were, quite a few of them decided to get the heck out of the camp and find a way to American military recovery centers quickly set up in Japan and the occupied territories. In Dorothy Cave’s book, “Beyond Courage,” she shared many stories about New Mexican prisoners in Japan who left the camps after learning about the end of the war and found their way to temporary American air bases and ships that were taking them home. Several POWs commandeered Japanese trains, took charge over the engineers, and forced the Japanese to take them as far as they could toward the American bases. Some hiked their way to the waiting Americans. The POWs crossed rivers, bargained for food and supplies with the Japanese civilians, and confronted subdued Japanese soldiers who had been stripped of their authority. The men of the 200th and 515th could not wait to get home.
The recovery efforts were mainly led by the Recovery of Allied Prisoners of War and Internees (RAPP), the operational umbrella formed by General MacArthur’s General Headquarters. RAPP teams were pre-positioned in the Pacific to move quickly into liberated areas. The Mercy Teams parachuted into remote camps, especially in Manchuria and China, ahead of the main occupation forces to secure the safety of the POWs. Their goal was to provide immediate medical aid, food, and communication to the outside world.
The International Committee of the Red Cross played a vital role in the transition period. They helped compile the "Master Lists" of survivors to notify families who, in many cases, had not heard from their loved ones in more than three years.
The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) led some of the most daring missions into Manchuria and occupied China. One such mission was operation Cardinal. An OSS team parachuted into Mukden, Manchuria, on August 16, 1945, before the Japanese had officially surrendered. They successfully liberated high-ranking Allied officers, including General Jonathan Wainwright from Mukden POW Camp. The Soviet forces also assisted in the liberation of Mukden.
A naval operation, Task Force 31, was the first to enter Tokyo Bay and began the immediate evacuation of camps along the Japanese coast, including Omori and Ofuna. Hospital ships, including the USS Benevolence, were stationed off the coast of Japan to act as the first point of contact for malnourished and ill POWs.
Manila was designated as a primary reception center for Allied recovery units to out-process thousands of the liberated POWs. Many were flown from Nagoya, Nagasaki, and other air fields set up by the Allies to Manila, where they received medical care, out-processing, opportunities to reach relatives back home, and to receive nourishment that they had missed for years. It was in Manila where American POWs first saw women in uniform, WACS. Evans Garcia and Manuel Lujan asked in disbelief, “What happened to the Army?”
From Manila, the POWs were transported back home on ships including the USS Admiral Hughes, USS Howz, and others. It was as a long, slow journey home, giving the POWs time to recuperate, reflect, and gain some of the weight they had lost. The main destination was San Francisco, but due to a longshoreman strike in San Francisco, some of the ships were re-routed to Seattle.
Leaving the darkness of war behind, they now faced the longest leg of the journey, across the high desert to home, family, and a nervous anticipation of what lay ahead. Out of the1800 New Mexican Guardsmen that left for the Philippines nearly four years ago, only half of them made it home. Tragically, it is estimated that one-third of those who returned died from health complications within the first few years after being freed.
After arriving stateside and back to New Mexico, the majority of the returning POWs were admitted to Bruns Hospital in Santa Fe for continued hospital care and recovery. At Bruns, the men were quite rambunctious. They were not used to sleeping in beds, so the nurses often found them in the morning, sleeping on the floor. They found a way to sneak liquor into their rooms and hide it under their pillows, drinking to both fight their demons and celebrate their freedom.
Carlos Montoya, one of the surviving men, said,
“All us guys from Bataan were kept there like it was the primate area in a zoo. We were all loony in there. The nurses and doctors would try to maintain order, but we could get pretty destructive at times. There was always the sound of the rattling crash of bedpans on bed frames, the tinkling of a broken glass from a shattered fifth bottle, or the larger crash of a nightstand being thrown through a window. Exasperated, the doctors and nurses eventually left us alone.”
The men would sneak out of the hospital, go to the bars, ask the nurses out on dates, and even “borrow” a car from a state police officer to drive up to Pecos for a few days.
On October 19, 1945, from the service center at Bruns, the men were awarded several decorations as a permanent part of their uniforms. These included:
Asiatic Pacific Theatre Ribbon with One Bronze Service Star
American Defense Ribbon with One Bronze Service Star
Good Conduct Ribbon with Clasps
Philippine Defense Ribbon with One Bronze Service Star
Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation with Three Oak Leaf Clusters
Seven Overseas Service Bars
They would later receive the Purple Heart, the POW Medal, and the New Mexico Bataan Medal.
The majority of men were discharged from Bruns in November 1945. Several were transferred to other hospitals for continued care.
The doctors told the survivors that they would be lucky to live for another 10 years and that they would never have children. Many of the men lived into their 80s, 90s, and even to 100. Evans Garcia from Dona Ana died at age 97. He always said, “I’m going for 100!” Tony Reyna from Taos did make it, and died at age 100. Valdemar DeHerrera died at age 102. Most of the men started their families and had children, many of whom carry on the recognition of the heroism of Bataan.
After coming home, the Bataan veterans continued to support one another and to promote the legacy of Bataan. Nationally, Bataan veterans established the Bataan Veteran group, the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, and held annual conventions beginning in 1952. The group is now led by descendants of the survivors. The veterans were active in veteran organizations, especially the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), and in New Mexico, they spearheaded the founding of the Bataan Memorial Museum in Santa Fe. They participated annually in Bataan conventions, locally and nationally, and in the commemorative Bataan March in White Sands. In 1947 in Santa Fe, the New Mexicans started a ceremony to commemorate April 9, the day of the Surrender of Bataan, a ceremony that is still held today in its original form and intent, established by the veterans themselves. The New Mexico Bataan Veterans Organization, at the invitation of the Philippine government, traveled back to the Philippines in 1985 as a group to dedicate a plaque at the Mount Samut Memorial, Bataan’s last stand, honoring the New Mexico 200th/515th.
As the years passed and the veterans aged, their spirits were not dampened. They continued to attend military ceremonies and events, sometimes holding canes and in wheelchairs, as a living testament to their unwavering spirit and devotion to Bataan and their fellow soldiers.
They never forgot the sacrifice—we should always remember as well.
Submitted by Margaret Garcia, daughter of Death March survivor Evans Garcia