State's oldest Bataan Death March survivor dies

Virgil Wallace

A New Mexico man who was the state's oldest survivor of World War II's infamous Bataan Death March has died at the age of 99.  

The New Mexico Department of Veterans' Services says Virgil Wallace was buried with full military honors Monday afternoon in Tatum. The department says Wallace died last week in Idalou, Texas. He was born in West Texas and raised in southeastern New Mexico. 

He was among the 1,800 members of the 200th and 515th Coast Guard Artillery Units who were ordered to surrender to Japanese forces on April 9, 1942.

State's oldest Bataan Death March survivor dies