Annual Bataan Commemoration Exhibition | Last of the 200th: Valdemar DeHerrera
- Laureta Huit
- 12 hours ago
- 6 min read
Curated by Aaron Krebsbach
Valdemar DeHerrera was born on October 8, 1919, in Costilla, New Mexico. He was the second child of fourteen to Meliton and Lupita DeHerrera and grew up ranching and farming. Valdemar registered for the draft in October of 1940 in Costilla, NM, in accordance with the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, before leaving New Mexico to work as a shepherd in Wyoming for the Civilian Conservation Corps. He received his draft notice the following year and returned to Costilla. Valdemar DeHerrera was mustered into service on March 22, 1941, was assigned to Battery A of the 200th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft), and sent to Fort Bliss, Texas for training. After successfully completing their training, outperforming both regular Army and National Guard units, the 200th was selected for deployment to the Philippines. 1,816 men strong, the 200th made their way to San Fransico Bay then onward to the Philippines.
Valdemar and the 200th made arrived in the Philippines in late August/early September of 1941. They were stationed at Fort Stotsenburg and tasked with the defense of Clark Field, armed with World War I era weapons and limited ammo. On the eve of US involvement in World War II, the 200th did what they could to maintain battle ready status, drilling and enjoying the luxuries the Philippines had to offer as the “Pearl of the Orient.” On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. On the other side of the international dateline, in the early hours of December 8, the 200th and the rest of the garrison of the Philippines went on alert, expecting an attack at any moment. The attack came in the early afternoon, fog on Formosa had delayed the Japanese fighters and bombers, and the 200th became the first regiment to fire on the Japanese and successfully downed a Japanese plane, credit was given to Battery H of Taos. The following day, the first war born regiment was formed out of men from the 200th, the regular Army, and Filippino regiments, the 515th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft). Valdemar was one of 520 men, 20 officers and 500 enlisted, transferred to the new regiment, assigned to Battery A.
As the Japanese began their land invasion of the Philippines, General Douglas MacArthur enacted War Plan Orange 3, pulling all forces to the Bataan Peninsula and the fortress at Corregidor in Manila Bay to defend and await relief, but relief would never come. As families of US forces celebrated Christmas back home, the 515th moved out of Manila with their ancient guns and corroded ammunition in tow to defend the retreating force eventually taking up positions in defense of Cabcaben Airfield on the Bataan Peninsula. On December 26, 1942, General MacArthur declared Manila an open city but, the Japanese bombed it anyway. The retreat had been successful and by early January, the defense lines of Bataan were drawn. Hungry, lacking medical supplies, low on ammunition, and the enduring the relentless assaults by the Japanese, the defenders of Bataan held off the Japanese, slowly retreating down the peninsula over the course of four months. On April 9, 1942, General Edward P. King made the hard decision to surrender his beleaguered force. Rather than surrender, many men chose to continue the fight, escaping to the garrison at Corregidor or into the jungle becoming guerrillas. Valdemar went with a group of men into the jungle and as his comrades-in-arms were forced to endure the harrowing Bataan Death March, Valdemar and the other guerrillas harassed and ambushed the Japanese for several more months. They scrounged for food, ammo, and supplies till they were eventually captured in an abandoned bunker. Shortly after being captured, one of the guards threaten to kill Valdemar but, as he put it later in life, a Guardian Angel stepped in in the form of another guard who stopped the first, saving his life. Valdemar became a Prisoner of War under harsh conditions, surviving on scarce amounts of food, usually a cup of rice and two cups of water a day, coupled with the continued spread of tropical diseases, such as malaria and beriberi, among the malnourished POWs. Using his knowledge of herbs from growing up farming in Northern New Mexico, Valdemar smuggled wild herbs he recognized into the camp in a small hat and acted crazy to throw the Japanese guards off. The herbs he smuggled into the camp helped to elevate the pains of the diseases and save some of those infected.
Though he did not endure the atrocity of the Bataan Death March, he endured several other forced marches to POW camps and eventually a Hell Ship to Manchuria. On one of these marches, in his weakened state from the grueling treatment, Valdemar fell. Had the Japanese seen him he would have been killed, but his Guardian Angel stepped in again in the form of a fellow POW, Valdemar stating the man’s name as Zacarias in an interview near the end of his life, who picked him up and helped him make the rest of the march, saving his life.
After surviving the forced marches and the just as grueling conditions of a hell ship, Valdemar found himself like many other POWs held by Japan, as forced labor. He was sent to a textile factory in Manchuria, forced to work picking cotton and processing it through the cotton gin and other needs of the factory to create textile items for the Japanese war machine. While there, he was randomly selected by a guard for a beating. Valdemar retaliated against the guard and was brought before an officer for punishment, which could have been death. But, another Guardian Angel moment, the officer chose to spare his life.
Valdemar survived the rest of his captivity, weighing 80 pounds and in poor health at the time of his release. He arrived in San Francisco in October of 1945 and was in the hospital till he regained his health. He returned to Costilla to a ranch his father purchased for him with his pay while in captivity, putting the war behind him. In 1949, he married Consuelo DeVargas of Taos and raise seven children. He worked for the New Mexico State Highway Department for a short while and for Molycorp Mining Company, all while still farming.
Valdemar was active in his community and with the veteran community. Having a second house in Alamogordo, Valdemar regularly attend the Bataan Memorial Death March at White Sands Missile Range. He was also a founding and longtime member of the Rio Costilla Cooperative Livestock Association, largely keeping the war behind him for most of his life, until it caught up with him one night. After speaking with a psychologist, he started to open a little about what he had gone through to a few members of family. Telling them about a harrowing experience as a POW of the Japanese and how he survived.
Valdemar DeHerrera and his wife traveled and enjoyed 69 years together till Consuela’s passing in August of 2019. But he carried on and by February of 2025, he was the last known member of the 200th and 515th Coast Artillery in New Mexico. During the 60-day legislative period in 2025 the New Mexico State Assembly in Santa Fe, February 19, 2025, was declared Valdemar DeHerrera Day, with the proclamation being read before a joint session of the New Mexico State Legislature. It was read once again on February 19, 2025 in the Rotunda by Secretary of Veteran Affairs/Retired General Jameson Herrera, honoring Valdemar DeHerrera’s service and sacrifice and the legacy of service within his family, his father having served in WWI, two of his daughters in the Army and Navy, grandchildren in the Air Force and Navy, and at his great-grandchildren in the Army and Navy, four generations of service. Valdemar DeHerrera died July 15, 2025, at his home in Costilla surrounded by his family.
In the early 2000’s, the statistic was WWII Veterans were dying at a rate of 100 a day. That was 100 stories gone every day. The WWII Museum in New Orleans estimates that of the over 16 million Americans who served, just under 45,500 are still alive, an estimate .5%. Many are the last of their units. The last of young men who went to war and forged bonds and brotherhood with those who they served with. Valdemar DeHerrera was the last known member of the 200th and 515th Coast Artilleries. In July of 2025, Valdemar DeHerrera passed, the last of the legacy of the 200th and 515th. Leaving no more known members of the brave men of New Mexico who went to the Philippines and survived the harrowing opening days of World War II for the US. He was buried in the Santa Fe National Cemetery with full Military Honors. He left behind a loving family and a continued legacy of service as his family continues to serve our Nation and the State of New Mexico.
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