Joseph Michael Archuleta

Spc 4 Joseph Michael Archuleta

Birth:  11/3/1943, Las Vegas New Mexico
Death: KIA 9/25/1967, Binh Dinh Province, South Vietnam

US Army | Vietnam War
French Funerals and Cremations. “Obituary for Carmela Blumenthal,” June 21, 2018

Burial Site: Mount Calvary Cemetery , Las Vegas San Miguel County, New Mexico, USA

Awards

Combat infantry Badge | National Defense | Purple Heart | Viet Nam campaign medal | Viet Nam Service

Spec 4 Archuleta was the son of Juana Maria Archuleta of Cañon Largo San Miguel County New Mexico. He graduated high school in Las Vegas New Mexico, attended classes at New Mexico Highlands and joined the US Army in September 1966.  He was killed in action on September 25, 1967. He was only 24 years old. Fellow soldier  Richard “the Deacon” Dieterle wrote in 2014 “I served with Joe Archuleta in the First Platoon, A Co., 1/8 Cav., First Cavalry Division.1 He was the most remarkable person that I had met in Vietnam. He was only a few credits short of graduating from N. Mex. State U. (I believe) when he got drafted. He was a sophisticated student of the philosophy of Unamuno and Ortega y Gasset, and could play Spanish guitar with impressive skill. He graduated from the 6 week Language School, and soon became surprisingly proficient in the Viet tongue. While he lived, we could communicate with the Vietnamese. He was helpful and kind to everyone, and had a kind of nobility that is hard to describe. In a firefight at Willie Bridge against a superior force of NVA regulars, his radio was shot up. At great personal risk, he rushed for the “duster” which had been knocked out earlier in the hope that their radio might still be operative. He was shot while climbing on to the vehicle.” New Mexico Highlands University honored him by naming the “Archuleta Hall” a multipurpose dormitory building in his honor where his picture is nobly displayed. Spc 4, Archuleta was the 60th New Mexico resident to die in Vietnam.2

Images & Documents

Joseph Archuleta's gravestone

Archuleta Joseph M

Bio prepared by E. Garcia, Ph.D. CNMC

Notes:

  1. com, U.S., Vietnam War Casualties
  2. “J Mike Archuleta,” Las Vegas Daily Optic, 29 September 1967, Newspapers.com
  3. Photos by Archuleta family, June 2023, S. Army, Spc 4 Joseph Michael Archuleta

 

See info at https://www.virtualwall.org/istate/istatnm.htm   also see https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/1332/JOSEPH-ARCHULETA/