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Michael
Santoroski
Santoroski
PFC · · 11C10
KIA · 1967-09-26
In-Country Service
1967-08-06 – 1967-09-26
Home of Record
Kingston, Ulster County, New York
Character of Service
Honorable
Archive Status
Active
Primary sources: Virtual Wall (VirtualWall.org); Wall of Faces (VVMF); newspaper obituary published in the Hazleton, Pennsylvania area, October 1967 (Santoroski family copy). The obituary is the most detailed source: it gives the wounding incident date (September 6), cause (land mine), evacuation route (Philippines), place of death (Army Hospital in the Philippines), and family survivors.
1967-08-06
Arrived in Vietnam
PFC Michael Santoroski began his tour with D Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry (Airmobile), 1st Cavalry Division in Binh Dinh Province — the battalion's year-long area of operations under Operation Pershing. As an 11C10 (Indirect Fire Infantryman), he served as a mortar crewman.
1967-09-06
Wounded in Action
Wounded — land mine, Binh Dinh Province
On September 6, 1967, seven weeks into his tour, PFC Santoroski stepped on a land mine in Vietnam and sustained severe wounds — metal fragment wounds to his right ankle, left thigh, and both legs — requiring surgical amputation of both legs below the knees. He was evacuated from the field to a hospital. Writing to his parents four days later, he was characteristically resolute: "Mom, please have courage. It's hard for me and you can make it easier if you are strong. God had planned for me. I accept it for I have my whole life ahead of me and I'm determined not to let this get me down."
1967-09-06
Casualty record
Binh Dinh Province, II Corps, RVN (wounding incident, September 6, 1967). Evacuated to a U.S. Army hospital in the Philippines; died there September 26, 1967.
1967-09-26
Died of Wounds
Died of wounds — Army Hospital, the Philippines
PFC Michael Paul Santoroski died of his wounds at an Army hospital in the Philippines on September 26, 1967 — twenty days after being wounded. He was 20 years old. His last letters home mentioned that he expected to be transferred first to Tokyo for further treatment, then to Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington. He did not survive to make that journey. He is remembered on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Panel 27E, Line 16.
Did You Know Michael, or Serve Alongside Michael?
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