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White Sands Missile Range is the premier military test range
in America, earning its title as “Birthplace of America’s Missile and Space
Activity.” Comprised of 3,200 squares miles White Sands Missile Range supports
the Army, Navy and Air Force, as well as commercial and international users
while conducting more than 3,000 tests annually.
White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is a United States Army
military testing area and firing range located in the US state of New Mexico.
It was originally established in 1941 as the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery
Range, where the Trinity test site lay at the northern end of the Range, in
Socorro County near the towns of Carrizozo and San Antonio. It then became the
White Sands Proving Ground on July 9, 1945, and was renamed White Sands Missile
Range in 19581. The range is located in the San Andres Mountains, the Oscura
Mountains, the San Augustin Mountains, the Tularosa Basin, and the Chupadera
Mesa in New Mexico. It encompasses almost 3,200 sq mi (8,300 km2) of land.
The missile range was originally established in 1941 as the
Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range.
On 16 July 1945, the first atomic bomb (code named Trinity)
was test detonated at Trinity Site near the northern boundary of the range,
seven days after the White Sands Proving Ground was officially established,
near the towns of Carrizozo and San Antonio.(33°40.636′N 106°28.525′W).
After the conclusion of World War II, 100 long-range German
V-2 rockets that were captured by U.S. military troops were brought to WSMR. Of
these, 67 were test-fired between 1946 and 1951 from the White Sands V-2
Launching Site. (This was followed by the testing of American rockets, which
continues to this day, along with testing other technologies.)
On 15 May, 1947, a V-2 rocket fired from WSMR veered off
course and landed 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Alamogordo, New Mexico.
Exactly two weeks later, on May 29, 1947, a modified V-2
sounding rocket veered off course and crashed on top of a rocky knoll about 3.5
miles (5.6 km) south of the Juárez business district, leaving a 24 feet (7.3 m)
deep by 50 feet (15 m) wide crater.
On 11 July 1970, the United States Air Force launched an
Athena sounding rocket, equipped with re-entry vehicle V-123-D, from the Green
River Launch Complex in Utah. While its intended target was inside of WSMR, the
rocket instead flew south and impacted 180–200 miles (290–320 km) south of the
Mexican border in the Mapimi Desert in the northeastern corner of the Mexican
state of Durango.
On 30 March 1982 NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia landed on the
Northrop Strip at WSMR as the conclusion to mission STS-3. This was the only
time that NASA used WSMR as a landing site for the space shuttle.
The 2013 Bataan Memorial Death March at the White Sands Missile Range
The Bataan Death March had a large impact on New Mexico,[51] given that many of the American soldiers in Bataan were from that state, specifically from the 200th and 515th Coast Artillery of the National Guard.[52] The New Mexico National Guard Bataan Memorial Museum is located in the armory where the soldiers of the 200th and 515th were processed before their deployment to the Philippines in 1941.[53] The old state capitol building of New Mexico was renamed the Bataan Memorial Building and now houses several state government agency offices.[54]
Every year in early spring, the Bataan Memorial Death March, a marathon-length 26.2-mile (42.2 km) march/run, is conducted at the White Sands Missile Range. On 19 March 2017 over 6,300 participants queued up at the starting line for the 28th annual event, breaking the previous record of attendance as well as the amount of non-perishable food collected for local food pantries and overall charitable goods donated.
The 200th and 515th Coast Artillery units had 1,816 men total. 829 died in battle, while prisoners, or immediately after liberation. There were 987 survivors