‘Answer to a prayer’: Community invited to honor Korean War MIA soldier as he’s laid to rest in Elgin
For 74 years, all Gloria Valle knew about her “Tio Beto” was from stories she heard from her family.
Though the Elgin woman always kept his picture up in her home, she never met her uncle Eriverto Ortiz, a U.S. Army corporal who was declared missing-in-action in Korea in 1950.
But after all this time, she’ll finally get to help him find his final rest.
“I believe it’s an answer to a prayer for my mom,” she said. “And I get to witness it. It’s very emotional.”
Ortiz was killed during the Korean War on Sept. 22, 1950, at the age of 27. A member of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, he died during the battle to gain control of Paedun-ni and Sachon.
His body could not be recovered at the time due to the fierce fighting. Numerous searches failed to locate his remains, and he was eventually declared nonrecoverable.
After the war, the family moved to Elgin from Batesville, Texas. Valle’s mom, Rita, Ortiz’s oldest sister, died in 2006.
“My mom and my grandma and my aunts all left (died) thinking that he was never going to be found,” Valle said.
In 1951, unidentified remains from the battle were recovered from the vicinity where Ortiz went missing and temporarily interred at the United Nations Military Cemetery in Pusan.
These remains were later buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, Hawaii.
In 2018, as part of the Korean War Disinterment Project, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency used dental, anthropological and mitochondrial DNA analysis to identify those soldier’s remains. Ortiz officially was accounted for on Aug. 10, 2023.
Army officials contacted the family last year, saying they had information. But Valle’s cousin, who was the official next of kin, was in poor health. She and the rest of the family designated Valle to take the responsibility. However, it took a while for the changes and the connection to be made.
About a month ago, officials told Valle that Ortiz had been positively identified.
“My family thought they (the Army) had forgotten him,” Valle said. “The day that I got a call from the military, I looked up and said, ‘Wow, Mom, they never gave up.’”
He’ll be buried Monday in the same cemetery as his sister, and Valle hopes the community will help honor his sacrifice.
“This is, to me, a miracle,” she said. “That’s why I want to give him the best welcome that we can. I want everybody to help me welcome him home so we can put him to rest in the country where he was born.”
More than 20 family members will attend the services that begin Sunday, including Valle’s two sisters, who are flying in from Texas.
Valle said “everyone” is invited to pay their respects, starting with a visitation on Sunday, Oct. 27, from 3 to 8 p.m. at Symonds-Madison Funeral Home at 305 Park St. in Elgin.
There will be another short visitation from 11 a.m. until noon Monday, Oct. 28, at the funeral home before a 12:30 p.m. funeral Mass at St. Mary Church, 400 Fulton St.
Interment with full military honors will follow at approximately 2 p.m. at Bluff City Cemetery, 945 Bluff City Blvd., Elgin.
Valle says she hopes many will turn out to show their support.
“That would mean the whole world to me,” she said. “Words cannot explain.”
The services are being handled by Operation LOVE, an acronym for Love Our Veterans Elgin, launched by Joy and Dan Symonds of Symonds-Madison Funeral Home.
“I’m incredibly humbled to be able to honor Corporal Ortiz one last time,” said Dan Symonds, himself a veteran. “It’s rewarding to know that we’re finally able to lay him to rest and he’ll home be with family.”