More than seven decades after his death, Army Cpl. Eriverto Ortiz finally received a proper funeral Monday and was laid to rest at Bluff City Cemetery in Elgin.
Ortiz was surrounded by family members, many of whom had not yet been born or had only faded memories of when he was reported missing in action in 1950 during the Korean War. His remains had been recovered sometime after his death but technology did not allow them to be positively identified until this August.
His parents, Domingo and Ventura Ortiz, and four sisters knew he went missing during intense fighting in Pusan, South Korea, but died without ever knowing his fate.
The Rev. Robert Camacho, who celebrated his funeral mass at St. Mary Catholic Church in Elgin, recalled a Mexican song about a mother’s yearning to see her child. A mother never gets tired of waiting, he sang in Spanish.
“He is now with his mother,” Camacho said of the Purple Heart recipient’s mother. “He has come back to her, to his family. They must be rejoicing.”
Ortiz joined the Army in 1948. He was part of the E Company, 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, according to his biography, and was 27 he died.
He answered a call to fight for our country and our freedom, Camacho said, one of about 100,000 Mexican and Mexican-Americans who were part of what some call America’s “forgotten” war.
“We take for granted the freedom we have,” he said. “We thank the Lord for people like (Ortiz), who gave their life for our freedom. … You know, in those days the Mexicanos weren’t seen very well, but he gave (his service and life) as an American.”
Ortiz’s remains had been interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii, known as the “Punchbowl.” With advances in dental, anthropological and mitochondrial DNA analysis now available, the U.S. Department of Defense’s Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency was able to make a positive ID earlier this year.
While Ortiz was originally from Texas, his family moved to Elgin in 1959. Family members decided to bury him at the same cemetery as his sisters, his niece Gloria Valle, of Elgin, said.
Operation Love, an Elgin-based nonprofit that helps provide funerals for veterans, assisted Valle in making the arrangements. Ortiz’s body was transported last week to Symonds Funeral Home in Elgin, where a visitation was held Sunday and Monday.
“The parish really wanted to honor him,” said Luanne Pross, a member of the choir. She felt it was important to recognize Ortiz for giving his life for our country.
Monday’s service included full military honors, bagpipes, and an escort by the Patriot Guard Riders and Elgin police. The church choir presented music for the mass, with cantor AnnMarie Creamer singing “Ave Maria.”
“I was very honored to do this,” Creamer said.
Children and staff from St. Mary School gathered after mass to hold American flags as an honor guard carried Ortiz’s casket to a waiting hearse. Eighth-grader Norah Lynch performed taps.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you,” said an emotional Daniel Symonds, funeral director and fellow veteran, to the students.
Valle, too, was touched by the school’s tribute. “I went over and thanked them. They shook my hand. They were so cute,” she said.
The community response was overwhelming, Valle said. Elgin Mayor David Kaptain attended and Gov. JB Pritzker sent a representative to the visitation, she said.
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Relatives filled the pews, some who Valle hadn’t seen in a long time. Some traveled from Texas to attend.
“I thank God for answering my grandma’s and his sisters’ prayers,” she said. “I believe my grandma and his sisters were looking down at us.”
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.