Once a year, the trauma of history’s infamous Bataan Death March is memorialized at the Army’s White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico. Winding through sand and rocky mountain terrain, Servicemembers from installations nationwide descend on the post to negotiate the grueling 26.2-mile march. In so doing, they pay homage to the Soldiers—those who survived and those who fell—who endured one of the most notorious nightmares of World War II.
And on Sunday, 17 March 2019, the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps showed up in force to pay its respects, registering notable achievements and spirited esprit de corps along the way.
HISTORY
After their 9 April 1942 surrender to the Japanese on the Philippine island of Luzon, approximately 75,000 Filipino and American prisoners of war on the Bataan Peninsula were forced to march 65 arduous miles to wretched prison camps. The Imperial Japanese Army’s forcible POW transfer was characterized by severe physical abuse and wanton killings; thousands of Filipinos and more than 500 American Soldiers perished along the route. What became known as the Bataan Death March was later declared a Japanese war crime by an Allied military commission.
Held annually since 1989, the commemorative marathon known as the Bataan Death March brings together members of the military from across the Armed Forces—and across the world!—to challenge themselves in honor of the survivors and the memory of their comrades in arms.
SUCCESS!
The JAG Corps’s most notable success of the March came in the form of CPT Marc Beaudoin’s first place victory in the “Military Heavy Vision” (right). A member of the III Corps OSJA, CPT Beaudoin truly led the way, completing the March with a blistering time of 4:35:57. His wife, CPT Morghan Beaudoin—a Judge Advocate assigned to 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division—also participated in the March.
CPT Graci Bozarth (left and center), an attorney with the 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley OSJA, also clocked in an outrageously impressive finish time of 5 hours and 36 minutes, finishing as a member of the first co-ed military heavy team and as a member of the first heavy team from any category to finish. HOOAH, Big Red One!
Props to the JAGWAR’s very own Ms. Stacy Craver—the so-called Queen of the Fort Bragg Courthouse and a member of our Advisory Board—who took a break from her duties at the 2nd Judicial Circuit to negotiate the route. She’s featured below (left) with Judge (COL) Fansu Ku, who also made the trek.
Shout out to SSG Zakaria Traore of the Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk OSJA!
Perhaps most impressive were the THIRTEEN members of the Fort Sill Office of the Staff Judge Advocate who reported to WSMR en masse to undertake the grueling march together. Led by intrepid Staff Judge Advocate COL Maureen Kohn and her Deputy, LTC Jeffrey Robertson, the Fort Sill team consisted of MAJ Katherine Spencer, MAJ Brian Payton, CPT Evan Freemyer, CPT Justin Hayes, SPC(P) Brandon Duffy, SPC Samantha DeAnda, PFC Sergio Vides.
COL Kohn nears the finish line!
CPTs Freemyer and Hayes still smiling after 26 miles!
The Fort Sill crew assembles with fellow Judge Advocates CPT(P) Chris Monti (704th Military Intelligence Brigade) and CPT Jesse Sommer (3rd Battalion Judge Advocate, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne)).
Yet of perhaps greatest import was the lingering powerful connection between the 2019 Bataan Death March and the tragedy from which it derives its name was the fact that March participants were as yet privileged to once again meet one of the final few remaining survivors.
These folks won’t always be around….
But they will never be forgotten.
