Bataan March survivor Elias Saavedra dies at 96

[Wagriff]

Jun 5, 5:51 PM (ET)

By RUSSELL CONTRERAS

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Elias Saavedra, one of the last survivors of the Bataan Death March, died Wednesday. He was 96.

Saavedra died of natural causes at his San Rafael, New Mexico, home after battling a number of illnesses, his son Alfred Saavedra said.

Born in 1918 in San Rafael, Saavedra joined the New Mexico National Guard at the outset of World War II. He was one of 75,000 Filipino and American soldiers taken captive by the Japanese in World War II when U.S. forces surrendered in the province of Bataan and Corregidor Island in April 1942.

In all, tens of thousands of troops were forced to march to Japanese prison camps in what became known as the Bataan Death March. Many were denied food, water and medical care, and those who collapsed during the scorching journey through Philippine jungles were shot or bayoneted.

The American defenders of Bataan included around 1,800 soldiers from New Mexico, who were part of the National Guard's 200th and 515th Coast Artillery Regiments. Officials estimate that half of them did not survive the war.

After the war, Saavedra returned to New Mexico, where he worked in service stations in Grants, New Mexico, before operating his own station in San Rafael.

Family members said Saavedra rarely talked about his experiences in the march, but he did take part in various memorial events. When the National Guard came years later to award Saavedra some medals, Alfred Saavedra said his father asked them to leave and to give the medals to him. "He didn't like the recognition," the son said.

But occasionally, the elder Saavedra would bring up something about working in a labor camp and mention how he had to bury people, his son said.

"He would begin talking about it, so I'd begin to ask more questions to see if he'd open up," Alfred Saavedra. "But then he would just break down and start crying. And I'd say, 'Never mind.' "

[Walkwolf]

R.I.P.

Another of the greatest, gone..........

[SteveR]

God bless his spirit and give him the peace he couldn't find in this life.

[AZPhil]

These Gent's are passing at a very high rate. Code talker Chester Nez and then Bataan march survivor Elias Saavedra. If you know a WW2 vet, talk with them. Listen to their story. Record it for history and then share it with all you know. Soon there will be no one left to tell us these stories.
RIP Elias Saavedra
Semper Fi
Phil

[Jody]

These Gent's are passing at a very high rate. Code talker Chester Nez and then Bataan march survivor Elias Saavedra. If you know a WW2 vet, talk with them. Listen to their story. Record it for history and then share it with all you know. Soon there will be no one left to tell us these stories.
RIP Elias Saavedra
Semper Fi
Phil

Hi Phil,
I agree 100%. I used to know and be friends with close to 200 WWII veterans. Now in 2014 only two are left that I still know (one is my great-uncle Harold). My son has only met 8 WWII vets and 6 of them have died in the past two years.

On a different note, my neighbor who lived two houses down was a veteran of Korea and he passed away last Tuesday and his funeral and service is on Saturday (those men are slipping away too).

Regards,
Jody