Documentary to feature letters from New Mexico soldiers

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Independent staff

SANTA FE — A documentary about New Mexico soldiers sent away to war — and their heartfelt efforts to remain in contact with loved ones back home — will air on television this weekend.

“Letters of Honor” will be shown at 3 p.m. on Sunday on Albuquerque public television station KNME. The hourlong documentary tells these highly personal stories in the soldiers’ own words, in letters to — and read on camera by — loved ones and family members. The letters are from soldiers serving as far back as World War I to the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Footage of actual letters, old photographs, personal mementos, and stunning shots of the New Mexico landscape combine to make “Letters of Honor” a powerfully moving dual tale of the soldiers’ love and longing of family — and sense of duty to their country.

“Letters of Honor” is directed by Tony Martinez, a 1975 graduate of Santa Fe High School. Martinez has won a prestigious George Foster Peabody Award and several national Emmy awards for his work on the highly-acclaimed “SportsCentury” series on ESPN television. He also produced and directed “Colors of Courage: Sons of New Mexico, Prisons of Japan,” which took top honors at the 2003 Taos Film Festival.

“I made ‘Letters of Honor’ as a labor of love not only for my father, but for all New Mexican soldiers who’ve fought in battle,” Martinez said. “My father served in the Philippines during World War II in the 200th Coast Artillery Regiment.

He wrote some incredibly touching letters back home to my mom,” he said.

“Then, the entire unit was forced into the Bataan Death March. He was then held captive for 3 1/2 years. But I never knew all of this until shortly before his death a few years ago,” Martinez explained. “It shocked me, but eventually made me realize there are probably lots of other New Mexicans who also wrote incredibly touching letters back home — and that these need to be heard.”

Martinez also credits New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services Cabinet Secretary John M. Garcia for giving him the initial impetus to make “Letters of Honor.” Garcia, a Vietnam War veteran, first contacted Martinez about the idea in the summer of 2007.

“New Mexico has such a rich and strong history of military service by its citizens,” Garcia said. “I felt we needed to act quickly to start preserving this heritage because every year we’re losing veterans, their survivors — and with this, access to these incredibly powerful letters and personal accounts of the war.”

Garcia would like to offer “Letters of Honor” to be a part of the educational curriculum in New Mexico’s high schools and universities.

“Our schoolchildren and university students need to know how their forefathers sacrificed in order to preserve today’s freedoms,” Garcia said.