A full military honors and interment ceremony will be conducted at the San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery in Santa Nella, on June 11th, 2015, at 10:30 A.M.
Elias “Alec” Martinez, a long-time resident of Gilroy CA, died on March 19th, 2015, at the Palo Alto VA Medical Center in Livermore, CA.
He was born in Fresno, CA on February 26th, 1929 and moved to Gilroy in 1941.
In 1951, he enlisted and served in the Army as a Military Police Officer during the Korean War, stationed with the 622nd Military Police Battalion in Vijong-Bu, Korea and 6th Army M.P. Company in Fort Ord, CA.
He was awarded the Korean Service Medal with two Campaign Bronze Stars and the United Nations Service Medal.
He is survived by a sister, three sons, four grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Jovita Martinez, his father and mother, and three brothers and three sisters.
Alec was proud of his service in the military, traveling to Korea and Japan and seeing a part of the world he would appreciate, and enjoyed spending time with his wife, his children and grandchildren, and extended family.
His perspective on life was a mixture of adventure and mischief, and he always had a story to tell to anyone who would listen over a beer or glass of wine… or two …
He will be sorely missed for both his understated generosity and astute bluntness.
Nothing was ever what it first seemed with him.
