NM survivor of Bataan Death March dies at 93
Posted at: 12/23/2012 1:15 PM
| Updated at: 12/23/2012 1:59 PM
By: The Associated Press
SILVER CITY, N.M. (AP) - A Grant County man who survived the infamous Bataan Death March during World War II has died at age 93.
Daughter Rosemary Gutierrez says Pablo Gutierrez died at a hospital in Silver City on Dec. 17 after developing respiratory complications and pneumonia.
U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce issued a statement calling Gutierrez a true American hero and real family man.
Gutierrez was in a New Mexico National Guard unit sent to the Philippines in 1941.
A Guard history says only half the 1,800 men survived the 1942 battle against the invading Japanese, the death march after the American surrender and 40 months of captivity. Gutierrez is also survived by five grandchildren.
He was born in Santa Rita and lived for decades in Bayard. Services are set for Friday in Silver City.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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