[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 5 (Monday, January 9, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S153-S154]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         REMEMBERING TONY REYNA

 Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, for generations, Tony Reyna 
served his people in Taos Pueblo and northern New Mexico as a respected 
community leader and constant source of wisdom and kindness.
  Last year, Mr. Reyna joined friends, family, and community members to 
celebrate his 100th birthday, which the New Mexico State Legislature 
officially proclaimed as Tony Reyna Day. After a full life of service 
and dedication to his community Mr. Reyna passed away last month 
surrounded by his family and loved ones.
  Mr. Reyna was the last remaining survivor from Taos Pueblo of the 
Bataan death march. On April 9, 1942, Mr. Reyna and 1,800 other members 
of the New Mexico National Guard were among the more than 75,000 
American and Filipino soldiers who were taken as prisoners of war by 
Japanese forces.
  The Bataan death marchers were forced to endure 3 and a half years of 
brutal captivity. They were marched for days in the scorching heat 
through the Philippine jungles. Thousands died. Those who survived 
faced the hardships of a prisoner of war camp. Others were wounded or 
killed when unmarked enemy ships transporting prisoners of war to Japan 
were sunk by U.S. air and naval forces.
  After returning to Taos after the war, Mr. Reyna opened Tony Reyna's 
Indian Shop in 1950, which has remained open to this day. He served two 
terms as governor of Taos Pueblo. He also served the Town of Taos as a 
police commissioner and as a museum board member. He was a lifetime 
member of the Taos Pueblo tribal council.
  He leaves behind an enduring legacy thanks to his lifelong efforts to 
preserve the culture, resources, and traditions of Taos Pueblo. He 
played a vital role in the return of Blue Lake, the Pueblo's sacred 
headwaters in 1970. And

[[Page S154]]

in 1992, when Mr. Reyna was serving his second term as governor, UNESCO 
designated Taos Pueblo as a World Heritage Site.
  In 2015, at a Veterans Day ceremony at the Indian Pueblo Cultural 
Center in Albuquerque, Mr. Reyna, then age 99, said, ``I served my 
country. I served my people. I'm still serving. I'm available anytime 
they ask me!''
  The people of Taos Pueblo and all of us in New Mexico owe an enormous 
debt of gratitude to Mr. Reyna for his full lifetime of 
service.

                          ____________________