White Sands Missile Range
For the Artesia Daily Press

More than 4K participants reported at 2026 Bataan Memorial Death March

More than 4,500 marchers participated in the 37th annual Bataan Memorial Death March at White Sands Missile Range on Saturday March 21, thanks to the hard work of the dedicated volunteers and support staff.

The Bataan Memorial Death March honors a special group of World War II heroes responsible for the defense of the islands of Luzon, Corregidor and the harbor defense forts of the Philippines. On April 9, 1942, tens of thousands of American and Filipino Soldiers surrendered to Japanese forces. The Americans were Army, Army Air Corps, Navy and Marines. Among those seized were members of the 200th Coast Artillery, New Mexico National Guard.

Col. Andrew “Drew” Morgan, Senior Commander of White Sands Missile Range, addressed the audience at the opening ceremony, encouraging everyone to reflect on this somber moment in history. He emphasized the importance of remembering Bataan and honoring the bravery and resilience of those who endured it.

“Eighty-four years ago, in the crucible of conflict, a terrible chapter in military history unfolded—the Bataan Death March—a trial of unimaginable suffering,” Morgan aid. “But it was also a testament to the unbreakable spirit of human will.”

Because of the forecast for sweltering temperatures, White Sands Missile Range leadership made the difficult decision to shift all participants to a 15.6-mile “Honorary Distance.” This change prioritized participant safety while preserving the essence of the event.

This decision to shift to the 15.6 mile distance reduced the number medical disqualifications to 79 with most related to foot care and leg cramps. In addition, no air or ground transports to local hospitals were required, and no accidents or injuries to the workforce or volunteers were reported.

McAfee U.S. Army Health Clinic Commander Lt. Col. Joseph J. Pavelites said there were no serious injuries and no medical evacuations to hospitals needed.

“Weather reports combined with heat injury modeling techniques informed the commander on risks so that he could engage optimal mitigation strategies,” Pavelites said.

These heat injury risk mitigation strategies included shortening the course to the Honorary Route only, providing ice immersion tanks along the route to help lower core body temperatures, ice sheets, water misters on the route, numerous hydration points and increasing medical personnel during the event.

Organizations that contributed to Bataan 2026 were McAfee Army Health Clinic, BorderRac, University of New Mexico Hospital System, William Beaumont Army Medical Center, Fort Bliss, Texas, 1st Armored Division, New Mexico Department of Health, Sierra Vista Hospital, Future Healthcare Professionals, American Medical Response.

Morgan and Col. Don Mozer, WSMR Garrison Commander, presented medals to the following teams:

The first place ROTC Heavy Division went to Norwich University Alpha Team, second place ROTC Heavy Division went to Norwich University Bravo Team, and third place ROTC Heavy Division went to Texas State University Alpha Team. The first place ROTC Light Division went to University of Minnesota. The first place for Junior ROTC went to New Mexico Military Institute.

Mozer also recognized those who work behind the scenes to include the close to 2,000 volunteers who help make the event possible.

“I want to thank all the amazing volunteers who step up every year to help. Without them this event would not be possible,” Mozer said.

He also recognized the WSMR FMWR team for all their hard work.

“To our sponsors, our medical and security teams as well, thank you all for the job well done.”

Of the 1,241 support staff and 466 volunteers; 429 were medical service related, 149 were emergency services related, 64 were Garrison operational support, nine were Mission Command Support, four were White Sands Test Center Range Operations for Air Space Coordination, 40 were New Mexico State University ROTC Army, 20 were NMSU ROTC Air Force, 10 were WSMR Navy, 25 were 1 AD Fort Bliss, Texas, two were Holloman Air Force Base Aviation refueling team, 23 Mesilla Valley Ham Radio Operators.

Emily Soto

Parents are Richard and Sonya Soto, sibling Veronica, and Nevaeh.

School activities are Paw Prowlers, student council, BPA, HOSA, Kingdom Seekers. Emily in involved in soccer. Emily has honor roll and is Student Body President. Her favorite subject are language and history.

Activities outside of school are going out with friends and family. Hobbies are listening to music, pickleball and soccer.

Emily plans to attend NMSU and major in radiology.

Jaslyn Granado

Parent Shelly Granado, two siblings Jadrien Perez, and Jadrek Granado.

Jaslyn favorite subjects are math and U.S. Government. Activities outside of school are gym, work and church. Hobbies are drawing and going to the gym. Jaslyn plans to attend UNM and major in Biology or Pre-Med.

Javier Rodriguez

Parents are Lisa and Javier Rodriguez, sibling Miya Rodriguez. School activities are National Honors Society, DECA. Sports swimming. School Honors DC Prin of Democracy, DC Eng/Lit Comp, DC Stat Method, Anatomy and Physiology H.

Favorite subject is Anatomy, physiology, and history. Activities outside of school are video games, running, swimming, and spending time with family. Javier plans to attend Texas Tech University to major in Pre-Med. Javier has made state for swim. He also owns and takes care of multiple pets dogs, cats, chickens. Javier likes to run.

Maddisun Mancha

Parent Cassandra Spain-Mancha. School activities are Artesia FFA reporter, treasurer, Eddy County Fair Board president for 2 years. Maddisun enjoys golf and FFA public speaking. Her favorite subjects are Ag, Biology, Government. Activities outside of school are showing, judging and breeding livestock, Maddisun hobbies are showing livestock locally and nationally, and reading. Maddisun plans to attend OSU or K State to major in animal science, biology.

Laurel Berry
Artesia Daily Press

“When you’re working with bees you don’t cut corners,” Norm Bloom said as he tightened the cuffs of his full-body bee suit before sliding long gloves up his arms. Then he grabbed his smoker, which was already full of small sticks and dried grass and leaves and the smallest of fires. He pumped the bellows attached to the side of the can to make copious gray smoke plume from the pointed cap. He aimed the smoke at the entrance to the nearest hive boxes, pumped some more, then set the can down to pry the top off, revealing the hive below.

Bloom has been in the business of bee keeping for the past 13 years or so, but it started when he was a little boy, helping his mom as she tended to hives in the Tularosa area.

“She’d be out there in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, just wearing a veil for protection, climbing up ladders to capture a hive in a tree or something. She’d put them in a box and come back down the ladder.” He shook his head at the memory. “One day, she fell as she was coming down and dropped the box right on her lap. They stung her up pretty good through her jeans.” She wasn’t in the business for the honey, but for the educational opportunities it presented. She would show off the hives to school children and give lessons on bee keeping.

The desire to live a self-sustaining lifestyle is what got Bloom interested in bees. He wanted a steady resource of sugar and figured honey would do the trick. Starting out with a hive of gentle bees that were given to him by a friend, he then bought more hive boxes and ordered a supply of bees from California for $200.

“I drove up to Albuquerque to pick them up from the guy and drove them back home, put them in the new hive boxes, and a week later they were gone. They decided they didn’t like it here and left. That’s when I decided that I was never going to buy bees again.”

He became the guy people call when they want bees removed. He’d climb trees to cut down a branch full of bees, bag them up, put them in his truck and drive them home. Or he’d cut a hive out from under someone’s eves, or from behind their siding. More bee boxes and more hives quickly led to outgrowing his own property. But he knew farmers in the area from High Rolls to Bent who were interested in having hives to help with crop pollination so he worked out a deal. He would maintain the hives on their land and they would get some of the honey every season.

According to the National Honey Board, “managed pollination is the practice of caring for hives and honey bees in order to pollinate the crops that sustain us.” About one-third of the human diet is derived from insect-pollinated plants, and honey bees are responsible for 80 percent of this pollination, “making them a critical component of today’s agricultural market.”

This is Bloom’s first trip of the season to tend to his hives and he will make seven stops over the course of the day, starting with relocating one of his hives from his property up to High Rolls. The property owner, who tends an apple orchard, lost his hives last fall to a bear. This year he has built a sturdy metal cage to house the bee boxes, protecting them from marauding bears. He leaves the new hive in cage and heads for his next stop across the highway in High Rolls. Here, he gets serious with the bee suit and the smoker can. “I want to visit this one early in the day while the weather is still cool because these bees are pretty spicy.”

The bees at this location are almost certainly Africanized honey bees (AHB), which are a hybrid between European and African bee subspecies. It’s nearly impossible to tell from looking at a bee if it is an AHB or a European. To further complicate the matter, the AHB will also hybridize with European honey bees, diluting the AHB genetics. Honey bees are not native to North America. They were brought in by early settlers in the 1600’s for honey and wax production.

“Bees have only been domesticated for about 600 years,” Bloom said. “The honey that they found in tombs in Egypt? That’s from pillaging hives, not tending to them. And it was still good 10,000 years later. Honey doesn’t go bad.”

When he pried the lid off the hives the bees inside reached a fever pitch in their humming and hit his suit and helmet with audible pops. A swirling cloud of bees surrounded him as he pumped smoke first into the hive boxes and then around himself. When bees are alarmed they emit a pheromone to let the rest of the hive know that danger is near. The smoke overshadows the pheromones, keeping the bees a little less frenetic. Bloom takes umbrage with the term killer bees.

“Don’t call them that. They are Africanized honey bees.” As an afterthought, “Though they will kill you.” He actually really likes them, despite their aggression. “They are a hardier bee and they do more foraging so they are more productive.”

As the bees swarmed around his head he removed panels from the hive box, searching for honey, broods, and the elusive queen. Each established hive consists of three boxes. If their stores are adequate, he will leave them all the honey in the lower two boxes, only harvesting from the top box.

“I let them keep all that other honey. That’s theirs. But the honey in the top box is mine. It’s their rent payment.”

He set several panels with honey in a cooler and replaced some broken frames with fresh ones from home. Then he reassembled the hive boxes and hauled his equipment back to his truck, ready to repeat those steps at the next stops.

Once he is back home, Bloom will go through the process of separating the honey from the wax and jarring it. He then melts down the wax to use in candle-making and also to mix with linseed oil to make a wood sealer for the new pergola he just built for his wife. He will clean up the frames, make the necessary repairs, and then return to the hives in a few weeks to see how the bees are fairing and to harvest more honey.

Bloom sells his honey under the label Blue Acres and can be reached via FaceBook. He also specializes in rescuing bee swarms and performing hive cutouts.