Wisconsin’s Red Arrow Soldiers tackle grueling desert marathon

Uphill climbs, sand, high elevation and 26.2 miles make Bataan Memorial Death March one of the nation’s toughest.

WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. — For most people, there aren’t too many tests of physical endurance tougher than a 26.2 mile marathon. But some of the 3,200 mobilized Wisconsin National Guard soldiers training at Fort Bliss, Texas, found something more than a little bit more challenging: the 26.2 mile Bataan Memorial Death March at White Sands Missile Range. More than 200 of the 32nd “Red Arrow” Infantry Brigade Combat Team’s soldiers took the challenge on the course with elevations up to 5,399 feet, on rocks and loose sand, while wearing combat boots, and some of them carrying 35-pound packs.

Staff Sgt. Mark Mithun of River Falls was the first 32nd Brigade soldier across the finish line. Mithun finished fifth in the men’s Military Light category — the full 26.2 miles without a pack. Mithun, a member of Co. B, 1-128th Infantry in New Richmond crossed the finish line at 4:32:52.

“Going up the higher elevation, that was a lot different than being in Wisconsin,” Mithun said.

The toughest part for Mithun was the loose, sandy terrain near the end.

“When we got to mile 20 it was a struggle trying to get through the last six miles in that sand pit,” the 34-year-old seasoned marathon runner said.

1st Lt. Michael Lee of the 32nd Brigade’s Camp Douglas-based Headquarters Company agreed.

“The scenery was incredibly beautiful, but the sand, wind and hills made it an extremely difficult course,” Lee said. Lee finished 15th of 454 entrants in the 26.2 mile Military Light category.

The Bataan Death March has a special meaning for Red Arrow soldiers. In April 1942, one company of the 32nd Division from Janesville was captured in Bataan and endured the original Death March. Of 99 Red Arrow soldiers captured in the Philippines, only 35 survived the war. “We did it for the Bataan survivors…the ones who were in Bataan.

We did it for them. We did it for our fallen soldiers,” Mithun said. “Remembering what they went through kept me going,” said Spc. Andrew Vannieuwehoven of Co., B, 2-127th Infantry of Green Bay, whose team, Juggernaut, finished first in the National Guard Heavy Team category with an average time of 6:46:46. Other Juggernaut team members were Pfc. Jesse Tlachac, Sturgeon Bay; Sgt. Ryan Gries, Madison; Pfc. Eric Sallenbach, Green Bay; and Pfc. Kyle Cooper, Appleton.

Every one of the 32nd Brigade’s Soldiers who began the march made it to the finish.

Team Red Arrow, made up of five Soldiers from the 32nd Brigade’s Headquarters Company, finished in 10th place at 7:49:38 as the top Wisconsin team in the Military Light category. Team Northern Nomads was sixth in the National Guard Light category with a time of 9:35:31.

Two Wisconsin Guard teams that finished the course wear the Red Arrow patch of the 32nd Brigade after their unit, the 829th Engineer Company, was recently folded into the brigade. Team NCCCM finished fifth in the Military Coed Light category with a time of 6:51:34, and the Bloody Knuckles team was right behind them at 7:08:43 for a sixth place finish. The 829th Engineer Company is based in Chippewa Falls with detachments in Richland Center and Ashland.

Pfc. Coady Schiltz, Sun Prairie, of the 32nd Brigade’s Headquarters Company placed 36th in the individual Military Heavy category with a time of 6:43:51. The Wisconsin Guard’s only other finishers in the individual men’s Military Heavy category were two brothers from Hustisford, Spc. Austin Phillips and Sgt. Matthew Phillips of Troop B, 1-105th Cavalry, who finished together at 9:36:58 in 231st and 232nd place among the category’s 328 finishers.

The Wisconsin National Guard’s 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team has been training at Fort Bliss since the end of February and will ship out for Iraq in about a month. # #

See Related Story: 32nd Commerates Bataan Death March

Soldiers from the Wisconsin National Guard’s Madison-based Headquarters Troop, 1-105th Cavalry, pause to cool their feet and change socks midway through the course. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Michelle Gonzalez.	Team Bloody Knuckles, made up of five soldiers of the 829th Engineer Company of the Wisconsin National Guard, crosses the finish line together in the Military Coed Light category. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Tyler Lasure.
Staff Sgt. Mark Mithun, River Falls, poses with his medal for the Bataan Memorial Death March. Mithun finished second in his age group and fifth overall in the 26.2 mile men’s Military Light category. U.S. Army photo.