Rank: Staff Sergeant
Unit: H Company, 2nd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
MOS: 11E – Armor Crewman
Awards: Silver Star, Purple Heart Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Korean Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, United Nations Service Medal for Korea
Badges: Combat Infantryman Badge
Unit awards: Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm device
Note: Platoon sergeant 3rd platoon
Enlisted by: Regular
Date of birth: 23-Aug-1936
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
Marital status: Married to Helen D. Ortiz, one son, one daughter
Campaign: Vietnam Conflict
Entered service: 15-Mar-1954
Start of tour: 23-Mar-1967
Incident date: 17-Jan-1968
Date of casualty: 17-Jan-1968
Age at death: 31
Cause of death: Hostile, died. Artillery/Mortar/Rocket. Artillery, rocket, or mortar.
John Ortiz died as a result of metal fragment wounds received while on combat operation as tank commander on a tank when anti-tank round fell in the area.
Location of fatality: Binh Long, South Vietnam
Place of interment: Mount Calvary Cemetery, Topeka, Kansas, USA
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SILVER STAR
POSTHUMOUS
STAFF SERGEANT JOHN ORTIZ
17 JANUARY 1968
H COMPANY, 2nd SQUADRON
11TH ARMORED CAVALRY REGIMENT
Staff Sergeant Ortiz distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action involving close combat against an armed hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam. Staff Sergeant Ortiz distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on 17 January 1968, while serving as a Tank Commander with Company H, 2d Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, on a reconnaissance in force mission during Operation Fargo in Loc Ninh Province. Sergeant Ortiz’s tank, in the lead position, came under heavy recoilless rifle and automatic weapons fire from a numerically superior Viet Cong force. An anti-tank round struck his vehicle, causing it to burst into flames. Directing his men to abandon the flaming tank, Sergeant Ortiz covered their exit with highly accurate suppressive fire from his .50 caliber machine gun. When his men were safely evacuated, Sergeant Ortiz turned his main gun on the enemy fortification, destroying at least one of the recoilless rifle teams. While still firing devastating rounds into the insurgent positions, Sergeant Ortiz was mortally wounded by an exploding antitank round. Sergeant Ortiz’s extraordinary heroism in close combat against a numerically superior Viet Cong force was in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflects great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army.
Headquarters, 9th Infantry Division General Orders No. 2280 (9 April 1968)