Corporal Byron Cecil Beal
Byron Cecil Beal was born on October 22, 1916 to Mr. and Mrs. Tyre Beal in Elida New Mexico. He was the first born of their five children. After graduating from Elida HS in 1936 he enrolled at NMAMC. He attended NMAMC from 1936 to 1940 when he graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Agriculture with Honors.
In April 1941 he enlisted in the NM National Guard, 200th Coast Artillery shortly after it had been called up to active duty. In August, the 200th CA was dispatched to the Philippines.
On December 8, 1941, only nine hours after the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor, the 200th CA engaged Japanese bombers at Clark Field and Fort Stotsenberg, becoming the first unit to go into action in defense of the U.S. flag in the Philippines. On April 9, 1942, the weakened survivors from the combined American and Filipino forces were unconditionally surrendered to the Japanese.
Most POWs were assembled in Mariveles at the southern tip of the Bataan peninsula and forced to march to San Fernando, Pampanga. Wounded men were assisted by able-bodied prisoners or carried on crude stretchers. Stragglers were beaten or killed. Civilians who showed mercy to the prisoners endured a similar fate. The incident covered a distance of 104 kilometers (65 miles) and became known as the Bataan Death March.
The final leg of the northward journey was completed inside stifling railway boxcars that took them to the prison set up at Camp O’Donnell. . Most of the American POWs were eventually transferred to Cabanatuan. The captured soldiers were subjected to inhumane conditions. Death from malnutrition, disease and abuse was a common occurrence. More than 4,000 American POWs and 25,000 Filipino POWs died in these two camps alone.
Corporal Byron Beal died at Camp O’Donnell, most likely from disease and malnourishment, on May 27, 1942 at the age of 25. Today his remains rest at Manila American Cemetery.
Historical Source: Bataan Memorial Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Jack W. Bradley, 515th Coast Artillery, who, despite a debilitating illness, wrote the history — engraved on three of the columns