Albert "Bert" Davidson Gortz (aka Bronislaw and Bruno, Garaz and Gorcz)

*No plaque located*

*The list of Liberty Row names shows that this soldier's plaque was placed on "Cedar Ave. to Cont'd (Right)."

Birth: 5/6/1895, Cleveland, OH

Address: 6927 Classen Ave., Cleveland, OH at time of draft registration; 4427 Gamma Ave., Cleveland, OH (his wife's parents' home) at time of deployment

Demographics: age 22 at draft registration; single; Caucasian; native-born Clevelander; occupation Salesman at Higgins-Babcock-Hurd Co., Ontario Street and Huron Rd., Cleveland, OH (wholesale grocers) at time of draft registration; previously as per the 1910 Census he was working as a "boy" at an Iron Foundry at age 14

Appearance: Height short, Build slender, Eyes blue, Hair blond

Marriage: 4/16/1918 married Ludmila Lillian Mary Nemec (1898-1986) ~2 months before deploying for WWI and ~6 months before his death. Per the 1921 Cleveland City Directory, Mrs. Grotz was a widow, working as a stenographer at a machine shop, and living with her parents at 4417 Gamma Ave., Cleveland, OH. By 1930, she was remarried to Orlando James Parks and had 2 children. In 1940, she was living in Palm Beach, Florida and appears to have died there in 1986. She does not appear to have been buried in the Nemec family burial plot in Cleveland, OH where her first husband Private Bert D. Gortz was buried after their short marriage.

Draft Date/Enlistment Date/Rank: 6/5/1917; 4/28/1918; Private

Service Number: 2432328

Deployment: 6/13/1918 from Philadelphia, PA aboard SS City of Glasgow

Action: 11 Co 3 Tng Bn 158 Dep Brig Apr 28/18 to May 8/18; 308 TM [Trench Mortar] Btry to Oct 23/18. Pvt. Meuse-Argonne. AEF June 13/18 to Oct 23/18.

Death: October 23, 1918 at age 23, less than 3 weeks before the Armistice on November 11, 1918; cause of death Killed in Action. (Private Gortz survived the Battle of Montfaucon (Oct 14-17) that broke through the Hindenburg Line, but did not survive the subsequent 10-mile push to advance out of the Argonne Forest.) [findagrave.com]

Burial: buried locally in Meuse, France; 6/3/1919 remains disinterred and reburied Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Meuse, France; 10/8/1921 remains disinterred and reburied in different grave at same cemetery; 3/22/1922 remains disinterred and prepared for return to U.S. via Antwerp, Belgium, arriving Antwerp 3/30/1922; 4/8/1922 remains shipped from Antwerp to Hoboken, NJ aboard SS Cantigny, arriving Hoboken 4/21/1922; 5/3/1922 remains shipped to Cleveland, OH to the care of Mrs. Lillian Gortz, wife, and "F. Gortz," presumably mother, at 7016 Lansing Ave., Cleveland, OH, arriving 5/5/1922; 5/9/1922 final burial in Nemec family (wife's family) plot at Calvary Cemetery, 10000 Miles Ave., Cleveland, OH, Lot 111 Section 7 Grave 2.

Next of Kin: Mrs. Lillian Gortz, wife, 3310 E. 117th St., Cleveland, OH at time of her husband's death; 4427 Gamma Ave., Cleveland, OH (her parents' home) the address listed at time of her husband's deployment and where she was living as a widow after his death, per Census records  

Additional Information: Father: John Gortz (1861-1938), born Poland (Germany), emigrated ~1881, occupation Day Laborer; Mother: Florentyna Florence Budniak Grotz (1864-1936), born Poland (Germany), emigrated ~1881, may have had 11 children of whom 8 survived; Siblings: (names are not certain) Stanislaw; Frank; Wladyslaw; Joseph; Walter; John; Leo; Edmund