Cadets from the University of Wyoming’s Army ROTC competed in the 22nd annual Bataan Memorial Death March earlier this year.

The event commemorates the 26-mile march that WWII service members were forced to endure through the jungles of the Philippines. Thousands died from dehydration, starvation and maltreatment.

The UW teams competed in two categories for both men and women; the males in the ROTC military heavy category and the women in the civilian light category.

The men’s team, which included cadets Eric Ensor, Jeremiah Longo, Christopher Peterman, Chaunecey Ary and Eli Varney took second place in its category. 

They carried 35-pound rucksacks, wore combat boots and the Army Combat Uniform (ACU). They completed their race in 5 hours 54 minutes.

The women’s team took first place in their category, finishing the course in 4 hours 49 minutes. The members of the women’s team were cadets Leslie Brazil, Barbara Cook, Katie Varney, Cheyenne Walsh and Holly Reiner.

In 1942, thousands of American and Filipino service members were forced to surrender to the Japanese. Instead of fair treatment, the Japanese forced the thousands of prisoners to walk more than 60 miles. 

According to Bataan survivor Alf Larson in an online interview Back to Bataan: A Survivor’s Story, written by Rick Peterson, the conditions were sub-human. 

Larson remembered walking all day and only stopping in a field at night to sleep. 

“If anyone had to go (to the bathroom), they went right there in their drawers as they walked. If you stopped or got off to the side, you would have been bayoneted or shot,” Larson said in the online interview.

The UW ROTC also hosted a joint field training exercise at Camp Guernsey in March, hosting cadets from CSU. 

The cadets participated in various exercises, including tactical training in realistic scenarios and land navigation. 

The cadets used weapons such as the M16A2 rifle and the M249 squad automatic weapon in “lanes,” which included opposing forces or OPFOR who used improvised explosive devices, snipers, surrendering insurgents and other factors that tested the cadets critical thinking and leadership skills.

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