Bataan Memorial Death March

Bill completed his 1st marathon. He went all out with this one. It is a 26.2 mile hike through desert terrain carrying a minimum of a 35 lb pack. He loved the fact that this is a memorial for the Bataan Death March that took place in the Philipines in 1942. The American and Philipino POW's were forced to walk 61 miles with an additional 25 miles following. These soldiers suffered terribly with a result of only 64,000 of the 75,000 prisoners surviving the march. Each year the remaining surviving POW's that participated in that march, attend the memorial. Each of the marathon runners, shake the hands of each of those men. This year it was down to 10 survivors. It felt good to remember those who have died for our freedom and we want to continue to remember each of their sacrifices. Thank you to all of those who have served our country and for those who continue to serve.

This is Bill's team, they all work at Bill's station. The time counts from when the last of your team crosses. Each group chose to stick together and encourage each other. It was neat to see each team cross. Bill, Ryan, Tony, Rob, and Kelly.

Shaking hands with the survivors.



The weighing of the pack. Bill's came in at 41 lbs. This is after all the food and drink he carried and consumed during the hike.


Our beautiful hotel room. The Bataan Memorial Death March is held in White Sands, NM so we staying in Las Cruces. This is the view from our room.


The kids had to help push the cart carrying all of our bags. Its amazing how much more we pack now that we have kids. With just the 2 of us it would have been a max of 3 bags. Now, can't even count that high!