Biography
Bortz, Louis (Bradley, Louis); b. June 30, 1910, Hartford, Connecticut; Lithuanian American; Father Samuel Bortz (1873-1952), mother Ettel Lynn “Ethel” (Ballenoff) Bortz (1876-1947); Education through the 9th grade; Unspecified military service; Single; Operator, Mechanic, and Gas Station attendant; CP and YCL both 1928; Received Passport# 362216 on January 18, 1937 which listed his address as 1036 East 123rd Street, Cleveland, Ohio; Sailed February 6, 1937 aboard the Paris; Arrived in Spain on February 14, 1937; Served with the XV BDE, Transmisiones, and Auto Park; Driver; Returned to the US in December 15, 1938 aboard the Paris; Married Ida Rosen (1915-?) on March 11, 1941 in Henry, Ohio; WWII US Army Air Corps, Aircraft Mechanic, stationed in California and Newfoundland, rank SGT; d. August 16, 2002, Mayfield Heights, Cuyohga County, Ohio, buried in Mount Olive Cemetery, Solon, Ohio.Siblings: brothers Harry Alexander Bortz (1901-1991), Benjamin Bortz (1919-1942), and Jack David Bortz (1921-2010), sisters Eva Bortz (1903-?), Rebecca Bortz (1904-1973), Florence Bortz (1909-2000), Anna Bortz (1913-1990), Minerva “Minnie” Bortz (1915-?), Ida Bortz (1917-2006).
Source: Sail; Scope of Soviet Activity; Cadre; Americans; RGASPI; Good Fight C; (obituary notice) The Volunteer, Volume 24, No. 4, December 2002, p. 21; (obituary) online People’s World Weekly http://www.peoplesworld.org/lou-bortz/; Ancestry L-W Tree. Code A
Photographs: Louis Bortz, RGASPI Fond 545, Opis 6, Delo 866; and Louis Bortz, mail censor, Barcelona, May 1938. The 15th International Brigade Photographic Unit Photograph Collection; ALBA Photo 11; ALBA Photo number 11-1144. Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, 70 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries; and from family.; Louis Bortz, by Richard Bermack.
