High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Private Joe P. Martinez (July 27, 1920 May 26, 1943) born in Taos, New Mexico, was a United States Army soldier who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor the United States' highest military decoration - for his actions on the Aleutian Islands during World War II. Private Joseph P. Martinez was the first Hispanic-American to receive the Medal of Honor during World War II. His posthumous award was the first act for combat heroism on American soil (other than the 15 at Pearl Harbor) since the Indian Wars. Martinez, whose birth name was Joseph Pantillion Martinez, was one of nine children born to a family of Mexican immigrants. In 1927, his father, who was an agricultural laborer, decided to move from Taos, New Mexico to Ault, Colorado.