Native American survivor of Bataan dies in New Mexico at 100

Native American Bataan Death March survivor Tony Reyna. YOUTUBE

TAOS, New Mexico — One of the last remaining survivors of the Bataan Death March in the Philippines during World War II and a highly respected Native American leader died Sunday, Dec. 4 at 100.

Former Taos Pueblo Gov. Tony Reyna died in his sleep at his Taos Pueblo home. He became a prisoner of war for three and a half years after American and Filipino soldiers surrendered to the Japanese on the Bataan peninsula in 1942.

His brutal captivity, which included the Bataan Death March, ended in 1945 when Allied troops liberated him and other prisoners of war. He was among 11 men from Taos Pueblo who were captured at Bataan, and he was the last survivor, according to a report by the Santa Fe New Mexican.

After the war he continued to serve his tribe and family, as well as the greater Taos community, as a leader and source of wisdom and insight. His efforts to preserve the culture of Taos Pueblo were instrumental in Blue Lake being returned to the tribe from the federal government, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican.

He established Tony Reyna’s Indian Shop in 1950. Reyna was a respected community leader even before he served two terms as his tribe’s governor, as well as in various other offices in tribal government.

Reyna is survived by his four children, Diane and Phillip, John Anthony and Marie, who is the director of the Oo-oonah Art Center at Taos Pueblo. His wife, Annie Cata Reyna, died in 1993.