Pueblo County memorializing veteran killed in Vietnam with highway designation

Anna Lynn Winfrey, Pueblo Chieftain
Updated ·2 min read

Pfc. Thomas Michael “Mike” Hanratty grew up in the Beulah Valley and was known for his athletic skills. He attended Pueblo County High School and started studying architecture at Southern Colorado State College in 1964.

American ground troops first arrived in Vietnam in 1965 and Hanratty enlisted a year later.

Hanratty first worked as a mechanic. He later learned how to be a helicopter gunner, but in June 1967, his helicopter was shot down and his body was never recovered.

Hanratty’s family had to mourn their loss without seeing him again, but a new memorial highway designation could preserve Hanratty’s memory for future generations.

Colorado Highway 78 west of Pueblo.
Colorado Highway 78 west of Pueblo.

How the highway designation came together

Kris Allen is with the Beulah Historical Society, which has been advocating for a few years to memorialize Hanratty with designations on the road between Pueblo and Beulah.

“It's important closure for Mike's family,” Allen said about the highway signs, especially Bessie, Hanratty’s only sibling still alive.

Allen said that she visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington, Virginia, and started thinking about a missing soldier from Beulah: Hanratty.

“He never came home and no trace was ever found,” Allen said. “There’s no grave site — his name is on the Vietnam wall — he is almost like the Tomb of the Unknown, but there's no tomb.”

A military portrait of Private First Class Thomas Michael “Mike” Hanratty, who grew up near Beulah, Colorado. Hanratty died in a helicopter crash in Vietnam in 1967 and his remains were never recovered.
A military portrait of Private First Class Thomas Michael “Mike” Hanratty, who grew up near Beulah, Colorado. Hanratty died in a helicopter crash in Vietnam in 1967 and his remains were never recovered.

Allen first reached out to then-state Rep. Daneya Esgar in 2022 about designating the highway for Hanratty. Allen recalled that Esgar, then nearly done with her term in the state legislature, advised him to speak with Alamosa Sen. Cleave Simpson, who had experience with highway designations.

Simpson was joined by Pueblo State Sen. Nick Hinrichsen in introducing a Senate joint resolution to designate Colorado Highway 78 in Pueblo County as the “Pfc. Thomas Michael ‘Mike’ Hanratty Highway.” It passed unanimously in both the House and the Senate.

Allen was in the Colorado Senate chambers with some of Hanratty’s relatives when the vote happened. She said that the lawmakers stood up and faced the family as they stood up to vote on the resolution, which was “really touching.”

City, county government collaborating on highway signs

The signs will be put up on a state highway but are expected to be crafted and maintained by local governments. Andrew Hayes, Pueblo's director of public works, said at a city council work session on April 15 that manufacturing the signs will cost approximately $2,500 and is pending council approval.

The signs are slated to be placed outside of city limits, so Pueblo County government will likely install and maintain them.

Hayes said that the signs could be unveiled on June 11, the 57th anniversary of Hanratty's death.

Anna Lynn Winfrey covers politics at the Pueblo Chieftain. She can be reached at awinfrey@gannett.com. Please support local news at subscribe.chieftian.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: How Pueblo County is memorializing a veteran killed in Vietnam