Julio W. Ortega, retired Air Force chief master sergeant, has died at 86
He achieved the Air Force’s highest enlisted rank and loved being called “Chief.”
Julio W. Ortega, 86, of Marlton, N.J., a retired U.S. Air Force chief master sergeant who served as an interpreter during the Cuban missile crisis and served three decades in the military, died Feb. 3 of peripheral vascular disease at his home.
He traveled around the world during his military career, including deployments in Germany and Turkey, and obtained the highest enlisted rank. He enjoyed being called “Chief” by family and friends years after retiring in 1985, said his daughter, Julia Ortega.
“He would tell people, ‘You can call me the chief,” she said. “He was very proud of the rank he had risen to.”
As a young airman, Chief Master Sgt. Ortega was assigned to assist a woman named Sandra Williams, who would eventually become his wife, when she arrived at Hill Air Force Base in Utah in 1959 and smashed racial barriers as the first Black female officer in the Air Force. The Cuban-born airman used his connections with a general to block an attempt by her supervisor to thwart her history-making appointment by President Dwight Eisenhower.
“I made sure she went as high as she could in the military,” Chief Master Sgt. Ortega recalled in an interview with The Inquirer last fall. “She was my lady.”
Battling racism and discrimination at the hands of white officers who refused to accept her among their ranks, Williams said her faith and her dashingly handsome future husband helped sustain her through the tough times.
“He rescued me,” she said. “I was so grateful to him.”
Although fraternization among officers and the enlisted ranks was frowned upon, the couple married in 1959. After his wife left the Air Force in 1961, she was recalled as a civilian, and Chief Master Sgt. Ortega remained on active duty.
» READ MORE: THE FIRST BLACK FEMALE OFFICER IN THE U.S. AIR FORCE
Julio Wilfredo Ortega was born Oct. 1, 1937, in Marianao, Cuba. After his parents divorced when he was a toddler, he was raised by his paternal grandparents. When Chief Master Sgt. Ortega was 14, he went with his father to the United States to seek a better life.
The family initially settled in Brooklyn, where Chief Master Sgt. Ortega had a hard time in school because he didn’t speak English. He eventually dropped out of school, and obtained a GED. He was 17 when he convinced his father to give permission to join the Air Force.
He was sent to the Utah base where he was assigned to the chaplain, his family said. Besides looking out for Williams, he performed tasks such as lighting candles and running errands while awaiting full military clearance. He became a naturalized citizen in 1958.
Chief Master Sgt. Ortega had a strong aptitude for math and moved up the ranks, handling logistics. He served as an intermediary between the United States and Cuba when the two countries were on the brink of nuclear war, his family said. He later worked on the Air Force’s Minute Man III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program, they said.
After retiring from then-McGuire Air Force Base in Wrightstown in 1985, Chief Master Sgt. Ortega had a second career as a civilian with the U.S. Navy. For 16 years, he handled foreign military sales at the Naval Air Station in Lakehurst. He received numerous awards and medals, including a Meritorious Service Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, and a National Defense Service Medal.
He would hold court in his Marlton home with enlisted men who came to visit and peppered him with questions about his service. He enjoyed serving as a mentor to civilians and military personnel. He also served two terms as an Evesham Democratic committeeman.
“People loved Julio,” his wife said.
He didn’t fare well, however, sitting at home during retirement, his daughter Julia said. After about a week, it was clear her father needed something to keep busy, she said. After his wife retired in 1994 with 27 years in the Air Force, the couple started a substance-abuse counseling agency.
“We made a great team,” his wife said.
His daughter Julia said her father was a family man with a keen sense of humor and loved to tell stories. She was supposed to be named after him when her parents thought they were having a boy. Then they changed Julio to Julia.
“He was incredibly generous to a fault, especially with his girls,” she said. “He was just an amazing father, spoiled us rotten,” she said.
In addition to his wife of 65 years and his daughter, he is survived by two other daughters, Maria and Beverly, and a bonus daughter, Tina Reeves; two sisters; nine grandchildren and other relatives.
A memorial service will be held Saturday, March 9, at Bradley Funeral Home, 601 Route 73 South, Marlton. Visitation will be held at 10 a.m., followed by services at 11 a.m.