Biography

Cruz Ortiz, Ernesto (Ernest); b. February 22, 1914, Ponce, Puerto Rico; To NYC in the 1920s; Puerto Rican; Father Laureano Cruz Pérez, mother Carmen Ortiz Márquez (probably the last name of her husband); Grammar school education; No prior military service; Single; Carver; YCL 1934; Received Passport# 466479 on July 28, 1937 which listed his address as 886 Longwood Avenue, NYC; Sailed August 4, 1937 aboard the Aquitania; Arrived in Spain via Massanet on August 15, 1937; Served with the XV BDE, Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, Cocina and Intendencia; Rank Soldado; Served at Fuentes de Ebro, Teruel, Segura de los Baños and The Retreats (Azura, Caspe, Batea, Gandesa); Last frontline service May 15, 1938; Returned to the US on December 20, 1938 aboard the Ausonia; WWII US Army, enlisted June 1942; d. April 14, 1998, Santa Monica, Los Angeles, California.

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Source: Sail; Scope of Soviet Activity; Cadre (under Ortiz, Ernisto Cruz); Figueres List; XV BDE; Pay; RGASPI Fond 545, Opis 6, Delo 829, ll. 16-21; José Alejandro Ortiz Carrión and Teresita Torres Rivera, Voluntarios de la Libertad, Puertorriqueños en Defensa de la República Española 1936-1939; L-W Tree Ancestry. Code A