Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
After being on the other end of the equation a month ago, this week I found myself on the outside looking in at a funeral service.
This was no ordinary funeral service, however. Only one person at the gravesite had been personally acquainted with the deceased. Most of the family never met him.
The family of Thomas Vernon Long gathered at the Portales Cemetery last week to lay the World War II veteran to rest for the second time. Others have told this incredible story in this newspaper over the last few weeks, so if you want all the details and background see Betty Williamson’s story in last weekend’s edition. (And her column in today’s paper).
Long grew up in Portales during a hardscrabble era — the 1930s. He played football on one of the first teams of then Eastern New Mexico College. Then his country called him to war, leaving just ahead of a sand storm with 24 other Portales men.
The only connection I know of I have with the young man was that a great uncle, that I barely knew, was apparently one of the men who spoke at his send-off. That and we both grew up on a farm in Roosevelt County.
Whether he got it on the farm, the football field or the battlefield, Long’s character was built at a young age. You see he was one of the men of valor and bravery we knew here as the Bataan Boys.
Fighting under harsh jungle conditions in the Philippines until they ran out of food and ammunition, they finally were forced to surrender following orders from their command. The Japanese then forced Long and hundreds of other soldiers on a nearly 70-mile journey through the jungle where the most brutal of prison camps ever awaited them.
He made the journey but, like so many others, likely died of malaria in the camp.
Remains were sent home finally in 1949 but a recent revelation turned up the true remains thanks to science, DNA and a team of Department of Defense experts focused on bringing families closure.
As I arrived at the graveside service, one of the first things that caught my eye was the POW-MIA flag flying beneath the American flag at the field in the center of the cemetery. It was a beautiful day with bright blue New Mexico skies with the smell of the recent rains leaving the air clean and fresh. Western Kingbirds flittered above the grounds in search of insects. Quite a different world from what Long had left.
A great nephew of Long’s told about growing up seeing the picture of the uncle he never knew hanging on his Mamaw’s wall and then years later fully realizing the price his great-uncle had paid and his part in history. “He’s finally back where he belongs, in the red dirt of Roosevelt County,” he said.
They’re not a familiar sound in Portales but I’ve heard a few gun salutes at veteran’s funerals over the years but this one was special and so was Thomas Vernon Long.
As the military honor detail finished folding the flag and presenting it to Long’s 93-year-old little sister a more familiar sound was heard — the mournful sound of a freight train reminded us of this big sacrifice.
Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:
