Another Bataan hero is gone
Ralph Rodriguez Jr. of Albuquerque was 100 when he died Saturday
One of the few remaining Battling Bastards of Bataan, who survived a grueling 65-mile forced march through the jungles of the Philippines and endured years of malnutrition and torture at the hands of the Japanese as prisoners during World War II, has died.
Ralph Rodriguez Jr., who served as a medic with the 515th Coast Artillery Medical Detachment, was 100 when he died Saturday.
Only seven New Mexican Bataan Death March survivors from the 200th and 515th coast artilleries remain, according to the New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services.
His daughter, Mona Lisa Rodriguez, arrived in Albuquerque from her home in Dallas on Thursday and spoke with the Journal at the 80-year-old adobe home she grew up in and her father lived in until the last of his days.
“I’m so proud of him,” she said, her voice halting and tears welling up in her eyes.
She sat on a sofa in her father’s
living room, the walls of which are adorned with countless medals, plaques and memorabilia honoring his sacrifices during the war.
These items tell the story of a man born in El Paso in 1917, one of 10 children, to Mexican immigrants.
He was drafted into service while the war raged in Europe and was sent to train in the Philippines, along with 1,800 other New Mexicans.
Only half of those men would survive. On Dec. 8, 1941, about 10 hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the training men, who fought on for months until they were ordered to surrender on April 9, 1942.
Rodriguez and the 75,000 exhausted American and Philippine troops were then forced to walk 65 miles to prison camps.
“It was just the beginning of inhumane treatment, or, as my father used to say, subhuman treatment,” his daughter said.
Many of those who fell behind were either left to die or were bayoneted.
Rodriguez ended up at Camp O’Donnell before being transferred to Cabanatuan, where he spent the rest of the war until he was liberated in January 1945.
As a medic, his daughter said, he took it upon himself to tend to the mistreated and ill the best he could without any medical supplies.
He also kept handwritten records of fallen comrades, who died of starvation, regular beatings and tropical diseases.
He read a Bible he found and planted a papaya tree.
Those activities could be done when he wasn’t eating rancid rice and fish heads or being forced into manual labor.
“He’s carrying sacks of rice on his back that weigh 100 pounds, and he weighs less than that,” Mona Lisa said. “They were completely emaciated.”
After nearly three years as a prisoner of war, he was liberated and returned to New Mexico in 1945.
When he returned, he met and married Elizabeth Gabaldon and had three children: Mona Lisa, Ralph III and Charles.
He worked for New Mexico Timber Co. in Bernalillo and other lumber businesses.
His daughter described him as a kind, caring and compassionate father.
But the memory of the Bataan Death March, and his imprisonment was never forgotten.
He was a National Commander of the Bataan Veterans Organization and of the American Ex-Prisoners of War.
“I think he was just trying to keep everyone remembering,” Mona Lisa said.
Rodriguez will be buried alongside his wife at Santa Fe National Cemetery today after Mass in Albuquerque.
“For me, he was always my hero,” Mona Lisa said. “As I got older, I realized my dad was a hero to other people, too.”