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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Cote
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
01-18-08
HJM 5
SHORT TITLE Congressional Gold Medal to Bataan Veterans
SB
ANALYST Padilla
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
House Joint Memorial 5 (HJM5) requests that the New Mexico Congressional Delegation
introduce legislation to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Bataan Veterans of the 200th
Coast Artillery of the New Mexico National Guard for their valorous defense of the American
and Filipino peoples during World War II upon the 1941 Japanese invasion of the Philippines.
The Congressional Gold Medal is the nation’s highest civilian award and the most distinguished
award given by the United States Congress to citizens who represent the best characteristics of
the American people. A copy of this Memorial is to be transmitted to the members of the New
Mexico Congressional Delegation and to Governor Richardson.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
On December 8, 1941, in the critical early hours of World War II, the 200th Coast Artillery of
the New Mexico National Guard was in the first line of defense in the United States
Commonwealth Territory of the Philippines against the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. As such,
during the invasion, the men of the 200th Coast Artillery stood guard between the invading
Japanese forces and the freedom of American and Filipino peoples. The men of the 200th Coast
Artillery were the first to fire upon Japanese forces and the last to put down their rifles when
ordered to surrender on April 9, 1942.
The men of the 200th Coast Artillery, in the face of terrible odds, made a valiant stand against
the Japanese forces, suffering though months of enemy attack with outmoded equipment; a
scarcity of food, medicine and ammunition; and diseases such as malaria, dysentery and beriberi
that ravaged them to utter exhaustion.
Subsequently, the men of the 200th Coast Artillery were captured on April 9, 1942 and were
forced by Japanese soldiers to march for six long days in exhausted and sickened states in
scorching tropical heat while being brutalized by the Japanese soldiers along the way. The men
were then placed in prisoner war camps for four years where they were forced into slave labor,
loosing scores of their ranks to starvation, disease and brutality.