Benjamin Ruben Montaño

         March 26, 1949 ~ May 23, 1969

       Benjamin Ruben Montaño was born on March 26, 1949, in Southern California.  He graduated from Tucson High School in 1967.  While at Tucson High, Montaño was a member of the 1966 State Championship football team.  His brother, Francisco Montaño, served in the U.S. Marines and was killed in action in April 1967.  It was not long after Francisco was killed that Ruben joined the Army.  SP4 Ruben Montaño was serving with B Company of 2nd Battalion, 47th Infantry in the 9th Infantry Division.  He was wounded in action during the battle of Hamburger Hill in May 1969 and was evacuated to Camp Pendleton, California, where he came down with malaria and died a month later. The Montaño brothers were the only set of brothers from the Tucson area to be killed in action during the Vietnam War.  

Benjamin Ruben Montaño is now honored on the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. in Row 09, Panel 24W. When the initial lists of the men and women whose names would be placed on the memorial, SP4 Benjamin Ruben Montaño was overlooked ... an error not corrected until May of 2001, when his name was engraved on the Wall.

Surviving family members:  Parents, Rogelio "Roger" Alvarado Montaño, Jr. and Eva Alday Montaño, and older sister, Evelyn Pro, all living in California, and an aunt, Mrs. Arthur Bravo, in Tucson.  Tucson Mortuary in charge of funeral arrangements.  Rosary:  Tucson Mortuary Chapel, Sunday, June 29, 1969 at 8:00 p.m.  Mass:  Holy Family Church, Monday, June 30 at 10:00 a.m.  Interment:  Holy Hope Cemetery, following Mass.

Sources:  Tucson Daily Citizen, June 27, 1969; Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Wall of Faces; Honor States.