A bill that would award the Congressional Gold Medal to some New Mexico World War II veterans has failed to make it through Congress in recent years, but some descendants of those veterans are continuing efforts to secure that honor.
The Congressional Gold Medal is awarded as the “highest expression of national appreciation” for distinguished achievements by groups or individuals. Although it is a civilian award, the medal is sometimes given in recognition of military achievements or sacrifices. Recent military recipients include the Dustoff Crews of the Vietnam War and the “Ghost Army” units of World War II.
Since 2009, the New Mexico congressional delegation has introduced bills to award the honor to those veterans from the World War II Pacific theater who were captured at the Bataan peninsula and on Corregidor Island, both in the Philippines. The various measures have been supported by the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Memorial Society. Both Bataan and Corregidor are known for the thousands of New Mexicans who died or suffered during the infamous campaigns, including those from the 200th and 515th Coast Artillery of the National Guard.
Most recently, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM), introduced The Defenders of Bataan, Corregidor and Attu Congressional Gold Medal Act, which would have awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to those veterans. The bill had some bipartisan support, but failed to pass in the 118th Congress, which concluded in January. So far during the current term of Congress, no similar measures have been introduced.
“I think it’s something that obviously the soldiers are deserving of,” said Larry Juariqui, originally of Silver City, now a resident of North Carolina. Juariqui’s uncle, Jose Juariqui, a survivor of the Bataan Death March, died as a prisoner of war in the Philippines in 1942 at the age of 20.
Juariqui points out that Filipino World War II veterans were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2017.
A 2022 article in the military newspaper Stars and Stripes, describes concerns with a 2021 version of the bill, also introduced by Heinrich and Leger Fernandez, that only specified those who served at Bataan and Corregidor, but not other veterans of the Philippines and the Pacific. The 2024 version was expanded to include those who fought at Attu, in the Aleutian Islands.
Juariqui hopes to raise awareness of the cause, and hopefully inspire renewed efforts to recognize New Mexico veterans of Bataan and Corregidor, through a 5K memorial walk at the Bataan Memorial Park, in Santa Clara, north of Silver City. Juariqui is also trying to organize a remembrance ceremony at the park following the walk, in hopes of advancing support for the Congressional Gold Medal effort.
