Bill McCamley
In the late 1980s, students in the NMSU Army ROTC began the Bataan Memorial Death March at White Sands Missile Range, an event now drawing over 5,700 from around the globe each year. It is a marathon-length march staged to honor the infamous journey that American POWs had to endure after their capture in the Bataan/Corregidor area of the Philippines in 1942.
My father began participating in this march in the late 1990s to stay in shape and honor military sacrifice. In June 2001 he underwent surgery for cancer, having two-fifths of his lungs removed. His recovery goal was to complete the Death March the next year, and it entered my mind that if my father (then in his early 60’s, coming off of surgery with diminished lung capacity, and with two bad knees from his years as a paratrooper) could do this, so could I.
Though he has since had to stop participating in the march itself, I have continued, and this last event marked my 7th time.
A friend of mine asked me recently, “Why do you keep doing this?” and it got me thinking. First, it is physically demanding. The length and terrain (including a climb around a mountain and a one-plus mile sand pit) provide a challenge that doesn’t diminish year-to-year.
There is also the camaraderie that you develop meeting folks who come from many different backgrounds to participate. A mental image of a guy in a tie-dyed shirt laughing with a group of soldiers in full dress uniform as they struggle along together is something you don’t forget.
But there is more. The death march is one of those things that give life perspective. For instance, before the march starts there is a ceremony reminding everyone of the horrors faced by the original WWII marchers followed by a roll call of the surviving and non-surviving members.
The latter grows shorter every year. Along the route itself, you come across many military veterans marching without arms and legs. Seeing someone plodding through the sand trap at the 21st mile on a prosthetic leg is deeply humbling.
Making our country one in which we can be proud
These experiences re-enforce an intense and abiding respect for the military. But they also, along with the amount of time it takes to complete the march, lead to deeper thoughts.
Almost everyone living in the United States has it good, even now in one of our toughest hours, compared to most other people in the world. While some here go hungry, the vast majority don’t. Most have an opportunity for a good education and, if they work hard, the ability to get a job allowing for a comfortable life.
All have the right to worship in a way that allows them to find spiritual fulfillment, and can participate in a system to help govern society in ways they think will make it better.
But these things don’t happen magically. Past Americans have worked hard to make our country in which we can be proud. Servicemen and women have made unthinkable sacrifices to protect our people from those that would threaten us. Farmers and factory workers have provided the food and products needed to make the economy run. Public officials have listened to their constituents and tried to shape these opinions in to laws that allow society to function.
Police officers, firefighters and emergency service personnel have endeavored to protect folks from those that would violate the rule of law and disastrous natural occurrences, both of which provide barriers to the pursuit of happiness. Teachers have instilled lessons in young people, allowing them a chance to eventually achieve the American Dream.
The responsibility continues
This responsibility for did not pass away with them. All of us are required to keep our communities and nation a place that we are all proud to be a part of. Therefore, we should all be the best that we can be in whatever we do, as workers, parents and citizens.
Sometimes, in a country with as much as ours, we forget that. That’s why it is important that all of us find that moment or thing that gives us the perspective to keep being our best.
For me, that moment comes every year in March. The lessons: Be thankful for and enjoy the life that I have. Remember the sacrifices of others and treat people with respect and dignity. Constantly try to be the best that I can be.
McCamley is a former Doña Ana County commissioner and a candidate for a seat on the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission.