Augustin Martinez

Augustin Martinez was born to Teofilo Martinez (1862-1924) and Delfina Archuleta (1863-1929) on 20 October 1895 in Park View, Rio Arriba, New Mexico. Martinez was the eighth of thirteen children; Candido Andres (1883-1925), Andrea Martin (1885-?), Felix (1887-1933), Otevania (1889-1913), Madelina (1890-1946), Jose Geronimo (1892-?), Otenio (1894-?), Eutimia (1894-1927), Maria Almelina (1899-2004), Carolina (1904-1932), Fidel (1905-?), Elisa (1907-?), and Ramon (1909-?).

Martinez enlisted in the U.S. Army on 26 April 1918 in Cortez, Colorado. From there, he wrote the following;

“….[I] was sent to Camp Funston, Kansas. Arrived there on the early hours of the 29^th day of April, I was taken into Detention Camp, Camp Pownee…on the 2^nd day of May I was taken into Camp Funston for physical examination which took place on the 3^rd day of May.”

Private Martinez and Company M, 356^th Infantry Regiment, 89^th Division, left New York aboard the U.S. Army Transport Ship Caronia on 4 June 1918.

“On the 18^th I was transferred from Co. H, 3d Battalion, 164^th Depot Brigade, to Co. M, 356^th Infantry with which I went across to the foreign country and landed at Liverpool on the 15^th day of June 1918 and La Havre, France on the 20^th of June…the training camp in France on the 23^rd of June, from there we went to Boucq, France where we first took part in the War. Arrived there on the 4^th day of August 1918 we was in Regimental Reserve and on the 23^rd of August we went into the first line trenches and we came out on the 29^th of August. We went back to rest and get some more exercise to go keep ourselves in condition. On the 9^th of September 1918 we went to take up the front line trenches again where we got in on the night of the 10^th, we was at the St. Mihiel Front, Lucy Sector on the 11^th about 5:00 p.m. we were notified that we was going over the top the next morning at 5:00 a.m. so we all got equipped with (220) two hundred and twenty rounds of ammunition hand grenades, rifle grenades, and hand bombs(?), wire cutters and with all the equipment that was necessary for the drive of the 12^th of September. On the 12^th at 1:00 a.m. then we had 5 minutes of machine gun barrage and at 5 o’clock sharp we heard the captain holler, “over top” (over the top boys) and over the top we went with the most pleasure and dignity ever seen. We went on continuous advancing for two day and nights, we stayed there until the 16^th from there we went on Divisional Reserve, then we took our position on the night of the St. Mihiel front. From there we left on the 6^th of October and was moved to the Argonne Meuse we arrived there on the 19^th of October we held and broke the enemies’ line on the 1^st of November and was on continuous advance and fight until November the 11^th. On the 11^th of November at 9 a.m. we had orders to clean up a certain woods for there was some machine gun nests where we met strong resistance. Finally we reached our objective losing four men, 3 were killed outright, one was wounded, there was 5 men on the capturing of a machine gun nest, 3 Privates, one Corporal, one Officer 1^st Lieutenant. The Corporal was myself so I was the only one left out of five, I killed 2 gunman, one officer and one Private and four more got away. But I killed those two after my 3 man were killed and my officer wounded on the 18^th of November.”

Then-Corporal Martinez received the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions on 10-11 November near Pouilly, France;

“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 Corporal Augustin Martinez (ASN: 2846993), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company I, 356th Infantry Regiment, 89th Division, A.E.F., near Pouilly, France, November 10 – 11, 1918. Corporal Martinez accompanied Lieutenant Murphy and three other soldiers in a flank attack on three heavy machine guns. Fired on directly at 30 yards they charged the guns, met hand to hand resistance, but repulsed the enemy, capturing the guns. Corporal Martinez followed the fleeing Germans until they were lost in the fog.”

“I was recommended for the Distinguished Service Cross by Captain Dale Ernesberger and was decorated on the 31^st of December 1918. I received the Distinguished Service Cross granted by General John J. Pershing presented by Major General Winn our division commander later on Martial Foch granted the Croix de Guerre, a French medalle which I received on the 31^st of May 1919. Our Division was selected as one of the first troops to enter Germany then the order was changed and our Division was assigned to the Army of Occupation so we commenced the march on the 24^th of November 1918 and continued December 21^st. We was stationed at Schweich, Germany near Treir as the Germans call it but we call it Theves on the Mosel River.”

Corporal Martinez and Co. I left Brest, France on 16 May 1919 aboard the U.S. Army Transport Ship Huntington, arriving in Hoboken, New Jersey on 28 May.

“We had a general review on the 23^rd of April by Genl. Pershing, we left Schweich for France on the 11^th of May arrived at Brest, France on the 14^th left Brest on the 16th for the United States. Landed in New York on the 28^th sent from there to Fort Bliss Texas on the 6^th of June, arrived there on the 12^th a.m. and at Fort Bliss we turned in all our equipment that we had and on the 14^th I was discharged. Arriving home on the 19^th of June and now I am pretty well, satisfied of the experience that I got from the Army. So I remain your best citizen of the State of New Mexico and of the Spanish American soldiers of the state if any details other than these can give I am willing to do so.”

Corporal Martinez was Honorably Discharged on 14 June 1919.

Martinez returned home after his Discharge, and worked as a farm laborer. On 22 January 1921, Martinez re-enlisted in the U.S. Army, and served with the Coast Artillery Corps in the Panama Canal Zone. He was Honorably Discharged for the second time on 7 February 1922.

Martinez married Selza Vallejos (1907-1985) on 18 November 1925 in Ignacio, Colorado, they had six children; Teofilo Delfin (1926-2009), Juanita Sally (1929-2006), Lidia (1933-?), Augustin (1935-?), Marie (1936-?) and Maryann Rosalietheresa (1938-1997). In the 1930s, the Martinez family lived in Durango, Colorado, where Martinez worked as a sheep herder; the 1940s, as a laborer.

Martinez became ill in 1955 and was moved to Morrison Convalescent Home in Grand Junction, Colorado, where he died on 17 February. He is buried in the Veterans Cemetery, Grand Junction, Colorado.