Margaret Garcia, daughter of Bataan Death March survivor Evans Garcia Ramirez, presented the Evans Garcia Ramirez ROTC Scholarship to New Mexico State University ROTC Cadet Samantha Razo March 18 at the Las Cruces Convention Center during the NMSU Historical Seminars event presented by NMSU Army Cadets.
For the past 17 years, Garcia said she has been in partnership with the New Mexico State University ROTC program to create and give this award to a deserving cadet.
“My dad survived the war, and he came home and was present at the Bataan Memorial Death March for many years. He sat at the finish line to shake everyone’s hand as they finished the march.”
She said her father presented the award for the first two years when he was alive.
Garcia said her father was a valiant Soldier and a friend to her.
“When you hear about all the heroic deeds that he and his fellow Soldiers accomplished you realize all these men set the bar so high…with their courage and bravery.”
During the presentation Garcia retold the crow story her dad had told her.
“When he was a prisoner in the Philippines, he, and his buddy Benny Valencia, from Belen, New Mexico, volunteered to be cooks for the Japanese,” Garcia said. “One day the guards came in and told him the Japanese officers wanted an American chicken dinner. So, they brought in a chicken for the prisoners to cook. While preparing the chicken dinner he heard a whack sound and a screech. He asked his friend Benny what that was, and Benny told him he had just killed a crow. So, he took the crow, plucked it, salted it, sprinkled it with soy sauce and put it in a pan. That evening the prisoners ate chicken and the Japanese ate crow.”
Garcia encouraged Bataan Memorial Death March participants to have courage and finish the race.
“Be inspired by the memory of all our heroic Bataan and Corregidor Veterans.”
Lt. Col. Adam D. Buchanan, Professor of Military Science at New Mexico State University, said the award is presented every year to continue and further the education of NMSU cadets and continue the legacy of the Bataan Battalion.
Buchanan said he has been leading the NMSU Cadet Battalion since this past summer. This is his first year on campus.
“I’m really getting connected to the New Mexico community and the power of the story of Bataan and the survivors.”
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