KCK Family Learns The Fate Of Relative Who Died in WWII

Kansas City Star - MO, USA

KCK family learns the fate of a relative who died in 1944 in WWII
By MEREDITH RODRIGUEZ
The Kansas City Star

Hurt mixed with hope hung over a Kansas City, Kan., family for decades after Pvt. Henry (Enrique) E. Marquez turned up missing in action in World War II.

When someone would call, then hang up, his mom imagined it was her “Rickey,” refusing to come home from Europe because he had been maimed during the war.

Marquez, of the 112th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division, died in battle in November 1944. But for years, hope compelled his family to leave his room untouched.

“He was still missing in action to the family,” said sister Hildreth Stuart, 84. “You dream these impossible dreams. We just had fantasies.”

Maybe he found a French girlfriend. Russians had him. He lost his memory in the hospital.

“Any report of some soldier turning up would bring hope out that somehow Rickey would return,” said his brother, Clark Marquez.

With Thursday’s announcement that the Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office had officially identified Marquez’s remains, the family has answers to many of their questions.

In November 1944, Marquez’s division was attacking east through the forest. Germans counterattacked. During the long-running battle, Marquez died in a foxhole next to Pfc. Julian H. Rogers of Bloomington, Ind.

A German citizen searching for war relics found both soldiers’ remains and identification tags in 2007.

Marquez’s three remaining siblings, out of five, are now planning his funeral — burial with full military honors — on May 30. He would have been 83.

“I wonder what he would have done with his life if he would have come back,” Hildreth said.

His family put his military life insurance money in the bank so that when he returned, “he could set himself up in business.”

He typed 100 words per minute. He sang and played the piano. As an expert woodworker, he fashioned fancy shelves that could fit into corners. He was a great hunter and sharp dresser given to hustling his many friends in pingpong games. He worked multiple jobs before leaving for the war at age 18.

He was the only one of the six children to inherit his father’s Mexican features — black eyes and hair. He was a good brother who sat next to Hildreth in school up until about fourth grade, until his friends made fun of him for it.

“I cried like everything because I couldn’t sit with my brother anymore,” she recalled. “I just admired him so much.”

Marquez’s family received his letters during the war. He sent regards to “Little Sweets,” his nickname for Clark, the baby of the family, who was only 2 when Rickey left.

“In these things, they talk about closure,” Clark Marquez said. “We don’t know precisely how he died, but we know where he died, and we brought him back home.”

“If he would walk in the door, I’d have thousands of questions for him,” Marquez said.

To reach Meredith Rodriguez, call 816-234-4415 or send e-mail to mrodriguez@kcstar.com.