After 84 years, New Mexico National Guard Keeps its Promise to Fallen Bataan Warrior

PORTALES, N.M. — Eighty-four years after Sgt. Melvin E. Jones died as a prisoner of war in the Philippines, New Mexico National Guardsmen stood beside his grave Tuesday and rendered final honors to one of their own.

Jones, a member of Battery E, 200th Coast Artillery Regiment (Anti-aircraft), was laid to rest Sept. 15 at Portales Cemetery with full military honors, bringing to a close a journey home that began more than eight decades ago.

New Mexico National Guardsmen were present to honor their fallen comrade, render military honors, carefully fold the American flag and present it to his family on behalf of a grateful nation.

For New Mexico National Guard Deputy Adjutant General Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Carper, the ceremony represented more than the return of a fallen Soldier.

It demonstrated that the promise to never forget America’s fallen warriors does not expire with the passage of time.

“We say ‘we will never forget,’ and today demonstrates that those words are a promise, not simply a phrase,” Carper said. “More than eight decades have passed since Sgt. Jones gave his life in service to our nation, but time does not diminish his sacrifice, nor does it diminish our responsibility to honor him and his family. Today, his fellow New Mexico National Guardsmen stood beside him, rendered the honors he earned and made sure his family knows that we remember their sacrifice as well. Sgt. Jones is finally home, and it was our privilege to welcome one of our own back to New Mexico.”

Jones was born Oct. 17, 1919, in Clayton, New Mexico, to Charlie Clay Jones and Justina Miranda Brooks.

He served in the New Mexico National Guard’s 200th Coast Artillery Regiment, whose defense of the Philippines and subsequent suffering in captivity became one of the most storied and painful chapters in New Mexico military history.

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The regiment arrived in the Philippines in September 1941 and was stationed at Fort Stotsenburg near Clark Field.

Following the Japanese invasion in December, Jones and his fellow Guardsmen fought in the defense of the Philippines before being ordered to the Bataan Peninsula.

U.S. forces on Bataan surrendered April 9, 1942, after months of combat under increasingly desperate conditions.

Jones was among those taken prisoner.

He survived the Bataan Death March and was eventually imprisoned at Cabanatuan Prison Camp in Nueva Ecija on Luzon, where prisoners endured overcrowding, malnutrition and disease.

Jones died of malaria July 28, 1942. He was just 22 years old.

He was buried with other prisoners in a communal grave designated Common Grave 215.

Following World War II, the American Graves Registration Service recovered remains from the grave, but complications surrounding the original burials and recovery prevented the identification of Jones and a number of his fellow prisoners.

His unidentified remains were interred at the Manila American Cemetery, while Jones’ name was memorialized on the cemetery’s Walls of the Missing.

In June 2018, as part of the Cabanatuan Project, unidentified remains associated with Common Grave 215 were exhumed and transferred for laboratory analysis.

Using modern forensic techniques, scientists were ultimately able to identify Jones.

He was officially accounted for Sept. 23, 2025.

Nearly a year later, his journey home was complete.

Tuesday’s ceremony connected generations of New Mexico National Guardsmen separated by more than eight decades.

The uniform has changed. The generations have changed. But the obligation to remember those who served before them has not.

The Guardsmen standing in Portales were not there when Jones and the 200th Coast Artillery fought desperately to defend the Philippines.

They did not march beside him on Bataan or endure captivity with him at Cabanatuan.

But 84 years later, they stood beside him for the final steps of his journey.

They saluted him.

They folded his flag.

They placed it into the hands of his family.

And they ensured that when the New Mexico National Guard says of its fallen, “We will never forget,” Sgt. Melvin E. Jones and his family know that promise is kept.