44TH LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - FIRST SESSION, 1999

REQUESTING THE CITY OF ALBUQUERQUE TO HONOR THE VETERANS OF BATAAN BY PLACING A MONUMENT IN AND MAINTAINING BATAAN PARK IN DIGNITY.

WHEREAS, the measure of heroism is quantified by the standards of honor, loyalty, service, sacrifice, valor, and most of all, humility, and these qualities define what a hero is; and

WHEREAS, the men and women of the great state of New Mexico have, in every war, personified the meaning of the word hero, and the men of the 200th coast artillery, the New Mexico national guard, put their personal stamp on and defined the word hero during their defense of the Phillippines, during the Bataan death march and during their imprisonment for three and one-half years and their abuse as slave labor; and

WHEREAS, the inevitability of time has left few of these men to walk among us now; and

WHEREAS, the defense of Bataan and Corregidor was one of our nation's darkest and brightest hours, and these men now ask that this memory be preserved;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the legislature of the state of New Mexico that the preservation of the record and these great deeds be remembered by the construction of a monument in Bataan park and that the city of Albuquerque be requested to maintain and manage the Bataan park in dignity and honor; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a copy of this memorial be transmitted to the mayor of Albuquerque.