Julio Barela; Bataan March survivor passes
Devtun sends a link to the sad news that Julio Barela, a 101-year-old Bataan Death March survivor, passed this week due to pneumonia complications.
He tried to join the Navy when he was 16 years old, but they sent him home. He was drafted into the Army instead and stationed in the Philippines just before the Japanese invasion.
“He would always say he’s not a hero, he’s a survivor. The heroes are the ones who died there,” [his daughter, Anita Dawson] said.
And Barela worked hard to survive, even till the end, Dawson said, adding that he had a desire to live.
Dawson said her father taught her many things, telling her to always be honest and a good friend.
“He always said ‘work hard, think independently and always find something to appreciate every day,’” Dawson said.
Category: We Remember
RIP Soldier
Anyone that survived that hell, and the years of captivity after are heroes to me, as are the men that died.
I cannot for the life of me imagine what it was like to have gone through what they did.
RIP Mr. Barela, you will always be in my heart.
Rest In peace, Sir. Enjoy Heaven, you did your time in Hell.
Another of the Greatest Generation passes. Fair winds and following seas, Mr. Barela.
Rest in Peace.
Rest in peace Soldier.
RIP
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Men like this are why I despise both phony POWs and those who falsely claim a Purple Heart.
Descanse en paz, Señor Barela.
God bless, sir.
To have survived that hell with his mind still intact is enough.
May the road rise to meet you, Mr. Barelo, and the wind be always at your back.
Go with God, Julio! Fred Jordan, Cash, Pete and all of the others from the 200th New Mexicans are waiting to see you again. First to fire, last to surrender.