Programs/Content
Library of Congress requests interview footage of Bataan veterans from KNME
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The Library of Congress has asked New Mexico PBS to contribute unedited interview footage from its Bataan: A 70th Anniversary Commemoration.
Quick Takes
Library of Congress requests interview footage of Bataan veterans from KNME
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This item has been updated and reposted with additional information. The Library of Congress has asked New Mexico PBS to contribute unedited footage of interviews from its program Bataan: A 70th Anniversary Commemoration, which recalls the horrors of the Bataan Death March, for inclusion in the library’s archives in Washington, D.C.
In April 1942, following World War II’s Battle of Bataan in the Philippines, the Japanese Army forced some 60,000 Filipino and 15,000 American prisoners of war to march more than 60 miles between internment camps. Along the way, thousands of Filipino and up to 650 American soldiers died due to physical abuse and atrocities at the hands of their captors. New Mexico PBS recorded 90 minutes of interviews with Pedro “Pete” Gonzalez, a survivor of the Bataan Death March, and Bill Overmier, survivor of both the battles of Bataan and the related Battle of Corregidor. Also participating was retired Lt. Gen. Edward D. Baca, former head of the New Mexico National Guard and the National Guard Bureau in the Pentagon, and longtime spokesman for Bataan survivors.