Fort Hancock, Texas

Benito Martinez, Medal of Honor recipient, was born at Fort Hancock, Texas, on April 21, 1932, to Mr. and Mrs. Francisco Martinez. He entered military service there. Corporal Martinez was a machine gunner with Company A, Twenty-seventh Infantry Regiment, Twenty-fifth Infantry Division, near Satae-ri, Korea. On the night of September 6, 1952, while manning a listening post in an advanced position, he was attacked by a strong enemy force. Heedless of the danger of encirclement, he remained at his post and attempted to slow the enemy advance. As a result of his stand, numerous casualties were inflicted on the attacking troops. He was reached by phone several times but maintained that the danger was too great for anyone to attempt to rescue him. When he was later forced to make a limited withdrawal with only an automatic rifle and a handgun, he defended himself for six hours. At the last contact with him, shortly before dawn, he stated that the enemy was closing in. The next morning his body was found with an empty ammunition clip in his left hand and a .45 caliber pistol in his right. He had killed three North Koreans. Because of his stand, friendly forces were able to reorganize and regain key terrain. Martinez's valorous sacrifice was a tribute to himself and the military service. He is buried at Fort Bliss National Cemetery. His Medal of Honor was awarded posthumously to his mother by the secretary of the army at the Pentagon in Washington.

(April 21, 1932 - Sept. 6, 1952) Graduated from Fort Hancock High School, May 1951. In Korean War, earned Congressional Medal of Honor in lone 6-hour stand near Satae-Ri, Korea, Sept. 6, 1952, enabling his unit to regain key terrain. He rejected offers of aid; was cited for incredible valor, supreme sacrifice. (1967)

Established when the town of Fort Hancock was founded in 1883, this general store is the oldest in Hudspeth County. Started by a Mr. Ross, later the first area postmaster, it was sold in 1916 to Q. A. Hare and his wife. In 1960 they transferred the business to their daughter Mrs. Bob Sims and her husband. It has remained in continuous operation, serving the Mexican border area with modern supplies as well as items like horse collars and coffee mills. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1967

The town of Tornillo derives its name from the Spanish word for screw-bean bush, a hardy firewood once prevalent in the area. Efforts to establish this site as a major agricultural center began when the United States Reclamation Service announced plans to build dam and reservoir projects on the Rio Grande. The Tornillo Townsite Company, founded by an El Paso investment firm, mapped the townsite in 1909, and the Tornillo Post Office was established the same year.
 After the Elephant Butte project north of El Paso was completed, agricultural speculation in the area increased. In about 1917, three leading agriculturists, J.B. Dale, Will T. Owen, and Louis J. Ivey, planted 600 acres of cotton in Tornillo. They harvested a successful crop and built the town's first cotton gin. Other farmers and businessmen, attracted by their success, settled here and by the late 1920s, Tornillo boasted several corporations, packing plants, and a cattle feeding operation, as well as several stores and a modern school system.
 The town's economy suffered in the Great Depression of the 1930s and never fully revived. Urban growth in nearby El Paso contributed to the decline of the settlement. Tornillo stands today as a symbol of early commercial development in El Paso County. (1983)

Tornillo is on State Highway 20 and the Southern Pacific Railroad thirty-five miles south of El Paso in southeastern El Paso County. The Rio Grande boundary with Mexico runs two miles to the south, and Interstate Highway 10 is two miles to the north. A paved, county access road connects Tornillo with the Interstate. The town was platted in 1909 by the Tornillo Townsite Company, a group of El Paso business men speculating on the development of valley lands into an irrigated agricultural area, motivated by the United States Reclamation's proposal to build a dam and reservoir on the Rio Grande above El Paso. Tornillo opened a post office in 1909. The name is the name of a member of the mesquite family, which was hauled from the site to El Paso for firewood. After the completion of the Elephant Butte Dam and Reservoir in 1916, the lands below the Hatch and Mesilla valleys of New Mexico and all valley land in El Paso County was organized as the Rio Grande Irrigation Project. Tornillo farm land was the last in the El Paso valley to be approved under the project. It became the center of a rich agricultural district. The first large-scale cotton production began in 1918. Growers planted a 600-acre field and set up a two-stand cotton gin. In 1990 cotton was still the main crop, and the largest cotton gin in the state operated at Tornillo. It ginned 90 percent of the cotton grown in the El Paso valley. To commemorate Tornillo's role in the growth and development of the cotton industry, a historical marker, approved by the Texas Historical Commission , stands on Highway 20 in mid-town Tornillo. Since 1970 a close second to cotton production is that of pecans. Other crops produced on a much smaller scale include chile, alfalfa, feed grains, and onions. The Tornillo school system has been an independent district since 1960. Santa Rita Catholic Mission, organized in 1966, was the only church in town in 1991. Santa Rita maintained its sanctuary, a recreational area, and Rivas Hall, which served as a community center for local civic and social activities. By 1991 the business section of Tornillo had decreased due to easy access to the freeway. Because local residents commute elsewhere to work, the population of the town has managed to remain almost constant since it dropped from a high of 280 in 1931 to a brief low of 100 in 1933. It rose to 250 in 1935. From 1968 to 1990 Tornillo had a population recorded as 241; it had one rated business in 1990. By 2000 the population reached 1,609.