Jose Lauriano Martinez

Jose Lauriano Martinez’s Personal Narrative was derived from information found in public records, military personnel files, and local/state historical association materials. Please note that the Robb Centre never fully closes the book on our servicemembers; as new information becomes available, narratives will be updated to appropriately represent the life story of each veteran.

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Military Honor(s):

Distinguished Service Cross

Citation: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Private Lauriano Martinez (ASN: 1626989), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company K, 110th Infantry Regiment, 28th Division, A.E.F., near Fismes, France, 26 August 1918. With two other soldiers, Private Martinez crawled 300 yards in front of our line through the enemy's wire and attacked a hostile machine-gun nest. The enemy crew opened fire on them at a range of only ten yards and resisted stubbornly but they succeeded in killing three of the crew and driving off the others with clubbed rifles. They returned to our lines under heavy fire.

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Life & Service

  • Birth: 7 March 1886, Chacon, NM, United States
  • Place of Residence: El Rito, NM, United States
  • Race/Ethnicity: Hispanic American
  • Death: 13 January 1977 Commerce City, CO, United States
  • Branch: Army
  • Military Rank: Private
  • Company: [K]
  • Infantry Regiment: 110th
  • Division: 28th
Personal Narrative
Early Life (Pre-War): Includes general parent information, sibling information, education Toggle Accordion

Jose Lauriano Martinez was born on 7 March 1886 to Marcelino Martinez (1861-?) and Maria de Estipula Vigil (1895-1936) in Chacon, Mora County, New Mexico. Martinez was the fourth of nine children; Victoria Apodaca (1880-1953), Maria Josefa (1884-?), Manualita (1885-1961), Cesilio (1890-?), Nicomendes (1894-1972), Maria Adelina (1897-?), Eliseo Apodaca (1900-1991), and Isabel Apodaca (1904-?). Martinez and his siblings grew up in El Rito de Agua Negra*, Mora County, New Mexico; he is listed as attending school in the late 1890s, presumably at the Presbyterian Church mission school in Agua Negra.  In his teenaged years, Martinez worked as a herder at a stock ranch in El Rito.

*“Rito de la Agua Negra is 15 miles west of Mora and is the center of the best oats and potato producing valley in the country. It has two stores, a Protestant church, a Catholic church, and Protestant mission school. Population, 600.” Report of the Governor of New Mexico to the Secretary of the Interior, 1903. Government Printing Office: Washington

Service: Includes a summary of transfers, rank change(s), training, enlistment, and discharge locations Toggle Accordion

Martinez enlisted in the U.S. Army on 4 October 1917; Private Martinez and Camp Kearny Automatic Replacement Draft Co. 7 (Infantry) left the United States aboard the U.S. Army Transport Ship Cretic on 28 June 1918. Private Martinez received the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions on 26 August 1918 near Fismes, France with Company K, 110th Infantry Regiment, 28th Division, A.E.F;

“The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Private Lauriano Martinez (ASN: 1626989), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company K, 110th Infantry Regiment, 28th Division, A.E.F., near Fismes, France, 26 August 1918. With two other soldiers, Private Martinez crawled 300 yards in front of our line through the enemy’s wire and attacked a hostile machine-gun nest. The enemy crew opened fire on them at a range of only ten yards and resisted stubbornly but they succeeded in killing three of the crew and driving off the others with clubbed rifles. They returned to our lines under heavy fire.”

Private Martinez and Saint Aignan Casual Company #922 left Brest, France aboard the U.S. Army Transport Ship Ohio on 20 February 1919; he was Honorably Discharged on 27 March 1919.

Later Life (Post-War): Includes post-war education, occupation, marriage(s) and/or children, location and date of death Toggle Accordion

Martinez married Teofilitia Naranjo (1906-1995) in 1920; they had twelve children, Benses Jose Venseslado (1924-1938), Pulita Alecia (1925-?), Nicolas Presiliano (1929-1993), Alfonso (1931-2006), Dionisio (1933-2004), Maria Victoria (1936-?), Addia (1938-?), Mary Adelia (1938-2016), Maximiliano Cayetano (1940-2003), Gilbert (1945-2008), Linda (1948-?), and Maria Dolores (1951-1988). In the 1930s, the family lived in El Rito, where Martinez worked as a farmer; the 1940s, in Chacon, where Martinez was employed in government work.

In 1946, Martinez was suspected of attacking Guillermo Vincente Gonzales in a bar in Santa Fe with a straight bladed razor; he was found guilty, and charged in September of that year. He was sentenced to one-to-three years in the New Mexico State Penitentiary and conditionally released in May of 1947.

In the 1950s, the family moved to Weld County, Colorado. Martinez died on 13 January 1977 in Commerce City, Colorado; he is buried in Ft. Logan National Cemetery, Denver, Colorado.