ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — U.S. Army Cpl. Richard A. Veal, a New Mexico National Guard Soldier who fought in the defense of Bataan, returned home to New Mexico today.
The New Mexico Army National Guard Funeral Honors Team rendered planeside honors. Among those in attendance were Veal’s nieces and nephews, who witnessed his return after more than eight decades.
Veal served with Battery C, 200th Coast Artillery Regiment before the Japanese invasion in December 1941. After months of sustained combat, U.S. and Filipino forces surrendered the Bataan Peninsula on April 9, 1942.
Veal was among those captured and forced to endure the 65-mile Bataan Death March before being held at Cabanatuan Prisoner of War Camp #1. According to historical records, Veal died on Dec. 27, 1942, and was buried in a common grave at the camp cemetery alongside other fallen prisoners.
Following the war, efforts to recover and identify the dead led to the exhumation of remains from the Cabanatuan cemetery. Veal’s remains were ultimately interred as an unknown at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.…