Capital Project
Tribute to Private Joe P. Martinez at Martinez Park

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Park

Joseph P. Martinez Park

Status

In Progress

Completion

Expected Spring 2025

Neighborhood

Villa Park

Partners

Villa Park Neighborhood Association, Mile Hi Veterans, Veterans Expedition Therapy, Considine Family Foundation, Denver Parks & Recreation, Denver Arts & Venues, Office of Councilwoman Jamie Torres, MDC Richmond American Foundation, PEMA Foundation

Overview

The Denver Park Trust, in partnership with residents of the Villa Park neighborhood, veterans groups, Medal of Honor supporters, Councilwoman Jamie Torres’ Office, Denver Parks and Recreation, and Denver Art & Venues, raised $45,000 and leveraged $70,000 for a lasting tribute honoring Private Martinez in Joseph P. Martinez Park in West Denver.

The “Why”

Private Martinez was the first Latino and Coloradan to be awarded the Medal of Honor in World War II.

Joe P. Martinez was born in Taos, New Mexico on July 27, 1920 and raised in Ault, Colorado. He was an Army Soldier who received the Medal of Honor—the United States’ highest military decoration—for combat actions that cost him his life on the Aleutian Islands in May 1943 during World War II. His posthumous award was the first Medal of Honor awarded for actions on the North American continent since 1898.

In 1966, the City and County of Denver named an 11 acre park in the Villa Park neighborhood in his honor.

The Vision

In 2020, a new master plan to revitalize Joseph P. Martinez Park was created. Through the community engagement process, it was determined that a new, enduring tribute to Private Martinez should be incorporated into the design and construction of the park.

Once completed in Spring 2025, the tribute will provide young and old, neighbors and victors, with an opportunity to learn more about Private Martinez’s life and legacy as well as veterans with a connection to Denver and Colorado, Latino veterans, and recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor.

The Campaign

Following the release of the master plan, the Denver Park Trust and its partners began a campaign to raise awareness within the community of the pending revitalization of the park and the idea to honor Private Martinez. This effort has included volunteer park cleanups around Earth Day, community gatherings to celebrate Veterans Day, and the annual Private Martinez Birthday Party in the Park, an event held each year on July 27, the date of Private Martinez’s birth.

In addition to community building, stakeholders, including Villa Park residents, community members, veterans service groups, and Medal of Honor supporters, were enlisted to share ideas on what a lasting to tribute to Private Martinez could include and how to fund it. Below is list of many of the stakeholders.

On the funding side, the campaign raised $20,000 from 723 individuals who leaned about Private Martinez and the future tribute through the Word of Thanks segment that ran on Next with Kyle Clark on May 24, 2023. Adding to that, three local foundations— Considine Family Foundation, MDC Richmond American Foundation, and the PEMA Foundation — teamed up to contribute an additional $25,000.

Those fund were combined with $70,000 from Denver Arts & Venues and Denver Parks and Recreation as part of the City of Denver’s 1% art program and triggered a competitive process to select an artist to create, and construct a unique and long-lasting tribute Private Martinez. In 2023 a committee made up of Villa Park residents, Latino veterans, and Medal of Honor supporters chose local artist Marco Garcia to create an art piece honoring Private Martinez.

The art piece and a tribute wall will included as part of Phase 1 construction of a revitalized Martinez Park along with a new playground offering challenging play for multiple ages and a pavilion and great lawn for community gatherings and events. Phase 1 construction is expected to be completed in Spring 2025.

Private Joe P. Martinez Biography

Private Joe P. Martinez was born in Taos, New Mexico on July 27, 1920. Joe was one of seven children born to José Manuel Martinez and María Eduvigen Romo. In 1927, the family moved to Ault, Colorado. There, he received his primary and secondary education.

In August 1942, Joe was drafted into the United States Army and sent to Camp Roberts, California for basic training. After completing basic training, he was assigned to Company K, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. In April 1943, the Division departed San Francisco to dislodge Japanese forces occupying the Aleutians, a chain of islands extending from Alaska into the Bering Sea.

One month later, the Division landed in dense fog at Holtz Bay on Attu Island. Initially successful, the attack stalled facing an escalating series of snowy, fortified trenches. Ignoring intense machine gun and mortar fire, Pvt. Martinez stood and hollered, “Follow me!” Martinez arduously climbed upward toward Holtz-Chichogof Pass, rising 150 feet from the rocky beach. Pvt. Martinez led the troops on and up, personally silencing several trenches with his Browning Automatic Rifle. Just below the knifelike rim of the pass, he encountered a final enemy occupied trench. As he fired into it, he was mortally wounded.

The pass, however, was taken. Its capture resulted in the end of organized enemy resistance on Attu Island. For his conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty, Pvt. Joe P. Martinez was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, our Nation’s highest combat honor. He was buried with full military honors in Ault, Colorado.