Remains of WWII soldier to be buried in Portales Thursday

PORTALES, N.M. (KFDA) - The remains of a Portales World War II soldier will be interred in the Portales Cemetery on Thursday.

U.S. Army Pfc. Thomas V. Long, a Portales native, was a member of the 200th Coast Artillery Regiment and was among the surviving American forces in Bataan who fell to Japanese forces April 9, 1942, after the attack on Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941.

Long was subjected to the 65-mile “Bataan Death March” as a prisoner of war. Records indicate Long died of cerebral malaria Aug. 28, 1942, and was initially interned at Cabanatuan POW Camp in the Commonwealth of the Philippines, now Republic of the Philippines.

Long was accounted for by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency on March 22, 2023, according to a press release.

Wheeler Funeral Home in Portales will perform graveside services before the burial on June 8.

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