New York National Guard Soldier survives blisters, bleeding and heat exhaustion to finish Memorial March at White Sands

Courtesy Photo | New York Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Walter Meshenberg, from Masten Beach, N.Y., participating in the 26th Annual Bataan Memorial Death March on March 22, 2015, at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. This was the first time the 53-year old Soldier participated in the event. (Photo courtesy Sgt. 1st Class Walter Meshenberg)  

MASTEN BEACH , NY, UNITED STATES

03.22.2015

Story by Eric Durr 

New York National Guard

WHITE SANDS, N.M. — When he finished the 26.2 mile course he was blistered and bleeding. Then he passed out.

But 12 hours, 16 minutes and 22 seconds after starting the 26th Annual Bataan Memorial Death March here on March 22, 53-year old New York Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Walter Meshenberg had accomplished the goal he set for himself in October.

He was one of 3,626 people to complete the full course. It was, Meshenberg said, one of the hardest things he’s ever done.

He’d broken in new boots to ensure that he didn’t get a blister. He developed one at about 18 miles, Meshenberg said.

He learned that walking 20 miles on the flat roads of Long Island just above sea level was very different from hiking at 4,235 feet in the mountains of New Mexico.

“It was heck. It kicked my butt,” he said.

He’d also gone to a sporting goods store to find just the right under pants to wear under his ACUs, so he wouldn’t chafe. That didn’t work out so well after all either, he said.

“They chafed, and I was bleeding all over my groin area. The friction was unbelievable,” Meshenberg recalled.

The course medics wanted to pull him out of the march, he said. Meshenberg refused.

There were badly wounded Soldiers taking part in the march, Meshenberg said.

“I said if they can do this, I will be damned if I can’t do this. They motivated me even more,” he said.

So he finished the course and crossed the end point at about 8:30 p.m., finishing 3,558 in the field, but finishing.

“As soon as I passed the course I passed out because I had a mild case of heat stroke,” he said.

Still, Meshenberg said, he plans on doing it all again next year.

The Bataan Memorial March began in 1989 when an Army ROTC unit sponsored the event to commemorate the Soldiers who surrendered to the Japanese in April 1942 during the invasion of the Philippines, then an American possession.

The 60,000 Americans and Filipinos that surrendered on the Bataan Peninsula were marched 80 miles to prisoner of war camps. The Soldiers were not fed, denied water and hundreds were beaten and shot out of hand. Nearly 2,000 New Mexico Army National Guard Soldiers were among those captured.

In 1992 the march moved to White Sands Missile Range. The route goes from flat desert to high mountains.

Meshenberg, the safety NCO for the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team and a member of the brigade’s aviation section, is a technician at the Army flight facility in Ronkonkoma. He got interested in participating in the march because Chief Warrant Officer John Seeger had done the march in 2014 and talked it up.

He started training in November, far less than the year of training march organizers recommend. But he was working out regularly, did well in his PT test, and had lost weight, Meshenberg said.

“Every other day I was on the treadmill walking three to five miles. On Saturday I would do three to four miles and then 17 miles and worked up to 20 miles,” Meshenberg said.

Meshenberg competed in the “heavy” march category which meant carrying a pack weighing at least 35 pounds. The marchers carried non-perishable foods to be donated to a local food pantry. Meshenberg carried rice.

Tough winter weather made training harder, he said.
“When it was raining and snowing I was out there on the roads in Masten Beach (Long Island) walking on the roads. It was horrible,” he remembered.

That nasty Long Island weather almost delayed his trip to New Mexico, Meshenberg said. More than four inches of snow fell in the area as he flew out of JFK on March 20.

He got in late to Albequerque, got a compact rental car and drove the 227 miles to White Sands. He slept in the car, and hit the course with about four hours of sleep, Meshenberg remembered.

But he got to meet wounded warriors taking part in the event, as well as the last few survivors of the actual Death March, and they inspired him to keep going, Meshenberg said.

“What these gentlemen went through. What our military went through. We need to remember this,” he said.

That is why, he said, he plans to be back in White Sands next year for the 27th annual march.

Next time, though, he’ll pick a different category. That way he can leave the rice and old- style heavy ALICE pack at home, he said.

• Date Taken: 03.22.2015
• Date Posted: 04.22.2015 10:43
• Story ID: 160793
• Location: MASTEN BEACH , NY, US