Corporal George Hall Huston
George Hall Huston was born to Mr. and Mrs David Huston on April 17, 1909. He was raised outside Lovington NM on his family’s ranch. In 1929 he graduated from Lovington HS and enrolled at NMAMC the following fall. He studied agriculture for 2 years before leaving NMAMC in the spring of 1931. After leaving school he returned to the family ranch and remained there until enlisting in the 200th Coast Artillery as it was being activated to federal service in April 1941 at the age of 32.
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. That evening, 500 soldiers from the original regiment of 1800 men were sent to provide additional air defense in Manila. This provisional force was christened the 515th Coast Artillery and became America’s first war-born regiment in World War II. CPL George Huston was assigned to Battery B of the 515th.
On April 9, 1942, the weakened survivors from the combined American and Filipino forces were unconditionally surrendered to the Japanese. Thus began one of the most cruel and unrelenting prisoner-of-war episodes in modern U.S. history.
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.
CPL George Hall Huston died at Camp O’Donnell, most likely from disease and malnourishment, on May 21, 1942 at the age of 33. Today his remains rest at the 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