[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 6]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 8219]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         IN HONOR OF PRIVATE FIRST CLASS ROYDEN L. ``ROY'' DIAZ

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 6, 2013

  Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remember Private First Class 
Royden L. ``Roy'' Diaz, who passed away on May 24th, 2013. Roy was the 
Salinas area's last Bataan Death March survivor and one of two 
remaining survivors from the 194th Tank Battalion. Of the 105-strong C 
Company, 194th Tank Battalion, only 47 men made it home alive. He and 
the other members of his unit are heroes and their great deeds should 
never be forgotten.
   Roy was born to Ben and Ida Diaz on October 23, 1916, in Monterey 
County, California. A graduate of Salinas High School, he spent a 
significant portion of his time working on his family's ranch in the 
Salinas Valley.
   Interested in earning a little extra money, Roy enlisted in 1936 in 
the California National Guard's 40th Divisional Tank Company, 
headquartered in Salinas. On February 2, 1941, Roy's tank company was 
activated for federal service and re-designated C Company, 194th Tank 
Battalion. After preparation and mobilization training, his unit was 
sent to the Philippine Islands on September 8, 1941.
   Two months later, the Japanese forces launched overwhelming attacks 
against the defenses of the Philippine Islands. After fierce fighting 
and bloody battles, tens of thousands of American and Filipino soldiers 
were surrendered to the Japanese on April 9, 1942.
   Roy and the other prisoners were forced to march for days in the 
scorching heat through the Philippine jungles. The Japanese guards 
chased off, bayoneted or shot any Filipino civilian who tried to give 
water or bits of food to the passing lines of prisoners. Those 
prisoners who fell-out were bayoneted, shot, or beaten to death. 
Thousands of soldiers died along the way. Others were wounded or killed 
when unmarked enemy ships transporting prisoners of war to Japan were 
sunk by U.S. air and naval forces. Those who survived faced brutal 
hardships of the Japanese POW camps and, at one point, four hundred 
soldiers a day were dying.
   By the time Japan surrendered and the U.S. Army liberated the Bataan 
Prisoners of War, two-thirds of the American prisoners had died in 
Japanese custody. Miraculously, Roy survived. He survived hardships 
that few have ever seen and even fewer can even imagine. After the 
Japanese surrendered and the prisoners were recovered, Roy returned to 
Salinas, California, for a short while working as a salesman for Glazer 
Brothers and then at Spreckels Sugar Company, but eventually went back 
to his family's livelihood--farming at his Corral de Tierra ranch where 
his parents raised him.
   Roy loved life. He appreciated it more than most probably ever do. 
He loved hunting and fishing in the local area and in the Sierra Nevada 
area. He loved working in his garden and competed at the Monterey 
County Fair for his vegetable garden and sunflowers where he won many 
ribbons. He also loved dancing with his wife of 57 years, Lorraine and 
enjoyed their many trips to Reno, Nevada. He loved the California Rodeo 
where he met his wife at the Colmo Rodeo Parade.
   Mr. Speaker, I know my colleagues in the House of Representatives 
all join me in remembering one of the last Bataan Death March 
survivors, Roy Diaz, whose service to our country ensures that our 
American democracy and our freedoms remain as strong today as they were 
70 years ago when Roy was a young Army soldier.

                          ____________________