Carlsbad Bataan veteran dies at 89

CARLSBAD, N.M. (KRQE) - Funeral services are planned Friday for Charles "Charlie" James, a New Mexico National Guardsman captured with the rest of his battalion in the fall of the Philippines in World War II.

James, a life-long resident of Carlsbad, died Sunday at 89. He is survived by Lucille James, his wife of 70 years, son Chuck James and wife Darla of Durant, Okla., daughter Joanna Sieberg and husband Jerry of Carlsbad, five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

A vigil will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at West Funeral Home Chapel in Carlsbad, according to an online obituary . Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Friday at St. Edward Catholic Church with burial with military honors to follow at Carlsbad Cemetery.

Staff Sgt. James was a member of Battery F, 2nd Battalion, 200th Coast Artillery when the New Mexico unit and its sister outfit, the 515th Coast Artillery, deployed to the Philippines in September 1941, according to the Bataan-Corregidor Memorial Foundation of New Mexico. Soon after the surprise attack on Pearly Harbor, Hawaii, Japanese forces attacked the Philippines.

New Mexico troops on Bataan and Corregidor fought until April 1942 when U.S. forces surrendered triggering the forced march of 75,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war that became known as the Bataan Death March.  About 1,800 New Mexico National Guardsmen were captured in the Philippines with half dying while in captivity and more passing away within a few years of liberation.

James was eventually loaded onto a "hell ship" with other POWs and taken to the Japanese mainland to provide slave labor for the war effort. He was liberated in September 1945 and returned to San Francisco where he was reunited with Lucille, whom he had married three days before the 200th was called to active duty.