New Mexico Minuteman - Fall 2011

111th MEB hosts Bataan
Liberation Prayer Breakfast
By Sgt. 1st Class Douglas Mallary, 111th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, NMARNG
The 111th Maneuver Enhancement
Brigade of the New Mexico Army National
Guard hosted the 2nd Annual Bataan Liberation
Prayer Breakfast at its headquarters
in Rio Rancho Aug. 7, 2011. Honorees
included two Bataan survivors who were
joined by approximately 130 Soldiers for
the event.
The distinguished guests included
William Overmier and his wife Ann, John
Love, Margaret Garcia, Mahlon Love, and
Ty Teel. Overmier and John Love are both
Bataan survivors, having served in the
200th Coast Artillery. Garcia represented
her father, Evans Garcia, another Bataan
and 200th Coast Artillery veteran, who
died earlier this year. Mahlon Love is the
civilian aide to the Secretary of the Army
for New Mexico, and Teel is the commander
of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post
5890 in Rio Rancho.
Maj. Gen. Kenny Montoya, the Adjutant
General of New Mexico, and Col. Thomas
Bump, commander of the 111th MEB, also
attended the breakfast.
Overmier was the guest speaker, sharing
how he joined the New Mexico National
Guard for gas money and how he and his
comrades were outfi tted with World War I
equipment as they fought on the Philippine
Islands during the fi rst few months of U.S.
involvement in World War II.
On April 9, 1942, approximately 12,000
American Soldiers, including members of
the New Mexico National Guard’s 200th
and 515th Coast Artillery regiments, were
ordered to surrender to the Japanese at
the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines.
The Japanese then forced their prisoners
to walk 65 miles to prisoner-of-war camps
during the now infamous Bataan Death
March. In the POW camps, these Soldiers
endured degrading and horrifi c treatment,
diseases and malnourishment. Many of
the prisoners were shipped to Japan for
10 NEW MEXICO Minuteman / Fall 2011
William Overmier, a Bataan veteran and former prisoner of war, studies a historical display at the 2nd
Annual Bataan Liberation Prayer Breakfast held Aug. 7, 2011, in the Rio Rancho Readiness Center.
The event, hosted by the New Mexico Army National Guard’s 111th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade,
honored Bataan veterans and commemorated their freedom. Overmier was the guest speaker.
Approximately 130 National Guard Soldiers attended the breakfast with Bataan survivors and their
family members as well as other dignitaries. Photo: Sgt. 1st Class Douglas Mallary, 111th MEB, NMARNG
forced labor. Of the 1,800 soldiers that
were sent to the Philippines during World
War II as members of the 200th and 515th
– many from New Mexico – only some
900 returned.
Overmier bluntly stated that some of his
fellow Soldiers died aboard the “hell” ships
en route to Japan as American planes
attacked the vessels.
“The pilots had no way of knowing that
there were Americans on those ships,”
said Overmier. “I know that sounds negative,
but that’s what happened.”
Overmier witnessed more of his brothers-in-arms
falling to sickness, starvation
and abuse at the hands of their Japanese
captors, who routinely confi scated anything
of value from American prisoners.
During the breakfast, all present
recited the Pledge of Allegiance. They
were treated to the playing of “America
the Beautiful” and “God Bless America”
after Bump’s opening remarks. Maj.
Danny Olson read Psalm 23 and Capt.
Richard Turk read Psalm 91. Newly promoted
Spc. Emily Gallo recited the Bataan
“motto” written by Frank Hewlett in 1942:
“We’re the Battling Bastards of Bataan; no
mama, no papa, no Uncle Sam; no pills,
no planes, no artillery pieces; and nobody
gives a damn!”
Besides honoring the Bataan veterans
and commemorating their liberation, the
prayer breakfast united past and present
warriors, since many of the Soldiers there
were veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq.
In his benediction, Chaplain 1st Lt. Timothy
Martin said, “We ask that you instill in
each of us the fi ghting spirit of the Battling
Bastards of Bataan.”