Pueblo MIA Vietnam War veteran officially memorialized alongside Highway 78
PUEBLO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - A Pueblo County family is getting closure as a new memorial for a missing-in-action Vietnam Veteran from the area, has been constructed in his name.
On Saturday morning, the memorial service for Thomas Michael Hanratty included full military honors, as well as speeches from classmates, friends and family, and even fellow Marine Veterans who served during the same time as him.
"I think it affected the whole valley when Mike went missing -- all his friends and everything, we all kind of paused and it stayed for 57 years," Bessie Langdon, his sister, said after Saturday's memorial.
Hanratty went to Pueblo County High School and studied architecture for two years before enlisting in the Marine Corps to serve in the Vietnam War.
"He loved to fight," Langdon said. "That's why he joined the Marine Corps. He chose to do that. He was going to be drafted, but he chose to be in the Marine Corps because he wanted to be one of the toughest."
Hanratty went MIA in June of 1967 when his helicopter crashed with multiple other soldiers on board. Langdon says only two bodies have been recovered from the crash, and Hanratty is still MIA.
Hanratty was originally honored in Fort Logan in Denver. Years later, partially thanks to the Beulah Historical Society, Hanratty is now being honored in his hometown.
"I thought at first it would be kind of tough driving by here, but now it's like saying, 'Hi, Mike,'" Langdon explained.
