THE WALL OF FACES

Dear PFC Joseph A Arimento, sir

As an American, I would like to thank you for your service and for your sacrifice made on behalf of our wonderful country. The youth of today could gain much by learning of heroes such as yourself, men and women whose courage and heart can never be questioned.

May God allow you to read this, and may He allow me to someday shake your hand when I get to Heaven to personally thank you. May he also allow my father to find you and shake your hand now to say thank you; for America, and for those who love you.

With respect, and the best salute a civilian can muster for you, Sir

Curt Carter

I did not know PFC Joseph Arimento but I served with the 25th Infantry Division (1-27 Infantry Wolfhounds) from 1969-70. I salute your Service and Sacrifice. May you find the peace of the Lord and your family and friends as well.

Rest in peace with the warriors.

NO.10

Local GI Killed in Viet Nam
by Joan Kovack

The family of Army Pfc. Joseph A. Arimento marked Thanksgiving here yesterday, not knowing their 20-year-old soldier was killed in Viet Nam the day before.
Pfc. Arimento, in Viet Nam six months, died from mortar fragment wounds in combat with the 25th Infantry Division. He is the 10th Yonkers man to die in the war.
Last Sunday Marine Cpl. William Dorsey of 49 Fanshaw Ave. was killed in the Da Nang area in combat.
Pfc. Arimento's family: his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth J. Arimento, and brother Kenneth J., an 18 year-old Navy Reservist, received word of his death at 6 a.m. today at their home, 201 Sommerville Place in North Yonkers.
The young soldier was a member of B Company of the division's 3rd Battalion but recently was on combat mission's with A Company. His unit was based in Pleiku and operated in the central highlands and near the Cambodian border.
His family received his last letter, written Nov. 16, on the day he died. He asked for several kinds of food and said he had received communion for Thanksgiving from a new chaplain-the regular one had been killed.
Pfc. Arimento's father said today his son counted the days he had left in Viet Nam in each letter home. He wanted to go to college after the service and had already been sent to banking school by the County Trust Co. in White Plains before entering the service.
Joseph was graduated from the High School of Commerce here and was editor-in-chief of the school yearbook. He marked his 20th birthday in Viet Nam last July.
"He wanted to come home," his father said Joseph had written, "It's a shame they're letting this thing (the war) go this far. If they wanted to they could get it over in a week."
The young soldier was hospitalized three times with what doctors thought was malaria. He suffered from fever and chills but no cause was ever established, he wrote home.
Pfc. Arimento, in his last letter said he was "going out" with A Company in an operation directed by Gen. William C. Westmoreland, the U.S. commander-in-chief in Viet Nam.
He wrote his father privately that he "wasn't scared" and "don't worry."
After 47 straight days of combat he was shifted to a non-combat area. He wrote: "I wish they'd take me the hell out of here." He said, "Too many top brass" were around making sure he shined his shoes.
Described by his father as "meticulous," young Arimento was close to his younger brother.
He sent his brother money to put new tires on the car he left behind. Kenneth, who was working on the car, planned to send Joseph pictures of it.
Joseph also sent money to his parents, writing them to "use it." They put the money in a bank account.
Pfc. Arimento entered the Army in December, 1965, completing basic training at Fort Dix, N.J., and advanced infantry training in guerrilla warfare at Fort Polk, La.

Joseph is buried at St Joseph's Cemetery, Yonkers,NY.