NMCentennialBlueBook

WORLD WAR II: (1939-1945) New Mexicans role in defending the United States and
Europe expanded dramatically in World War II. New Mexicans were among the over 16
million men and women who stood up to tyranny and defended our nation and the world.
One New Mexican, S1/c Holger Earl Sorensen, who grew up in Sombrillo, near Espanola,
was among the first casualties of World War II on the U.S.S. Arizona when it was attacked
by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor.
Supposedly on active duty for only one year, the units of the New Mexico National Guard
received notice that they were selected for duty in both the European and Pacific theatres
of war. The 120th Engineer Battalian and 804th Tank Destroyer Battalian went to the
European theatre while the 200th (Antiaircraft Unit) was made up of our 1,800 New
Mexican soldiers and sent to the Philippines. The history of this unit is synonymous with
Bataan.
BATAAN: On December 8, 1941, just hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, this unit
became the first allied forces to engage the enemy in the Pacific and was credited in official
records as the “First to Fire.” The very next day a unit was created from the 200th and
sent to Manila to provide defense there. This unit was to be designated as the 515th
Coast Artillery Regiment (Antiaircraft) and was made up of men from the 200th. It was
to be America’s first unit born in battle in World War II. Over the next four months these
units fought valiantly to provide precious time for allied forces to regroup. Despite dire
circumstances, these New Mexico men shot down 86 enemy aircraft; protected bridges
used in the withdrawal of Allied Forces, and successfully covered the retreat of the North
and South forces into Bataan before being ordered by their commanders to surrender.
Because of this, those “first to fire” units were all captured with the surrender of Bataan on
April 9, 1942 to the Japanese.
Following the fall of Bataan, these men endured starvation, disease and the horror and
atrocities of the Bataan Death March. This infamous march constituted the largest organized
unit consisting of some 50,000 prisoners who were forced to walk in the infamous "Death
March" to Camp O’Donnell in central Luzon. Here they experienced the horrors, atrocities
and privations of the prisoner of war camps for the next 40 months. Of those first 1,800 men
who left New Mexico, set sail from San Francisco to the Philippines, only 900 returned
alive to New Mexico and one-third of those died within one year. The survivors of the
200th and 515th were among the most highly decorated soldiers in U. S. history. In 2012
only a few remain. One who died in 2011 was retired New Mexico Representative Tommy
Foy from Silver City.
In Santa Fe, the Bataan Memorial Museum in Santa Fe honors their sacrifice as does the
Eternal Flame Monument across the street from the State Capitol.
Only nine days after the surrender of Bataan, on April 18, 1942, Staff Sgt. Paul J. Leonard,
a Roswell native, was navigator on the first plane by Lt. Col. James H.“ Jimmy” Doolittle
when it flew off of the U.S.S. Hornet. It was the first of 26 B-25 bombers headed to bomb
Japan in a retaliatory strike to avenge the attack on Pearl Harbor. Leonard was killed in
Algeria January 5, 1943. Doolittle lamented his death as one of his greatest losses. It was
Leonard who cheered up Doolittle in China after the raid.
The 120th Engineers reported to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma and began training for the invasion
of Sicily. Entering combat as part of the 45th "Thunderbird" Division during WWII, the
120th saw action in Rome, Southern France and finally throughout the Rhineland. The
804th Tank Destroyer Battalion became part of the 34th "Red Bull" Division and earned
distinction in battles for Rome-Arno, North Apennines and Po Valley.
THE NATIVE AMERICANS IN WWII: Some 3,600 young men from the Navajo
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