Peter J. Ortiz

Pierre (Peter) Julien Ortiz OBE (July 5, 1913 – May 16, 1988) was a United States Marine Corps colonel who received two Navy Crosses for extraordinary heroism as a major in World War II. He served in North Africa and Europe during the war, as a member of the French Foreign Legion, the U.S. Marines and the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), operating behind enemy lines several times. Ortiz also acted in Hollywood films after the war. He was one of the very few U.S. Marines to serve in combat in Europe during World War II, and one of the most decorated Marine officers of the war.

Ortiz was born in New York to an American mother of Swiss descent and a French-born Spanish father. He was educated at the University of Grenoble in France. He spoke ten languages, including English, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, German and Arabic.

On February 1, 1932, at the age of 19, Ortiz joined the French Foreign Legion for five years' service in North Africa. He was sent to the Legion's training camp at Sidi Bel-Abbes in French Algeria. He later served in Morocco, where he was promoted to corporal in 1933 and sergeant in 1935. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre twice during a campaign against the Riffian people. He also received the Médaille militaire. As an acting lieutenant, he was offered a commission as a second lieutenant if he re-enlisted. Instead, when his contract expired in 1937, he returned to the United States to serve as a technical adviser for war films in Hollywood.

With the outbreak of World War II and the United States still neutral, Ortiz re-enlisted in the French Foreign Legion in October 1939 as a sergeant, receiving a battlefield commission in May 1940. He was wounded while blowing up a fuel dump and captured by the Germans during the 1940 Battle of France. He escaped the following year via Lisbon and made his way to the United States.

Ortiz enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps on June 22, 1942. As a result of his training and experience, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant after only 40 days in service. He was promoted to captain on December 3. With his knowledge of the region, he was sent to Tangier, Morocco. He conducted reconnaissance behind enemy lines in Tunisia for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). At the time, though most of Morocco was a French protectorate, Tangiers was a protectorate of neutral Spain. During a night mission, Ortiz's right hand was seriously wounded in an encounter with a German patrol and he was sent back to the United States to recover.

In 1943, Ortiz became a member of the OSS. On January 6, 1944, he was dropped by parachute into the Haute-Savoie region of German-occupied France as part of the three-man "Union" mission, with Colonel Pierre Fourcaud of the French secret service and Captain Thackwaite from the British Special Operations Executive, to evaluate the capabilities of the Resistance and train the Maquis du Vercors in the Alpine region. He drove four downed RAF pilots to the border of neutral Spain before leaving France with his team in late May.

Promoted to major, Ortiz parachuted back into France on August 1, 1944, this time as the commander of the "Union II" mission. He was captured by the Germans on August 16. In April 1945, he and three other prisoners of war escaped while being moved to another camp, but after ten days with little or no food, returned to their old camp after discovering that the prisoners had virtually taken control. On April 29, the camp was liberated.

Ortiz rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve. He was released from active duty in 1946 and returned to Hollywood. In April 1954, he volunteered to return to active duty to serve as a Marine observer in Indochina. The Marine Corps did not accept his request because "current military policies will not permit the assignment requested." On March 1, 1955, he retired from the Marine Corps and was promoted to the rank of colonel on the retirement list because he was decorated in combat.

Colonel Ortiz was awarded 24 medals in all from three countries.

Upon returning to civilian life, Ortiz became an actor. He appeared in a number of films, several with director John Ford, including Rio Grande, in which he played "Captain St. Jacques". According to his son, Marine Lieutenant Colonel Peter J. Ortiz, Jr., "My father was an awful actor but he had great fun appearing in movies". After serving as technical advisor in 13 Rue Madeleine (1947), he did so again in the film Operation Secret (1952), which was based on his World War II exploits.[10] Ortiz had no control over the script of the film, in which he was portrayed by Cornel Wilde, and "wasn't too happy with the result." He told columnist Bob Thomas that "they had stipulated that I was to help in the screenplay but never consulted me."[10]

Ortiz's acting career floundered during the 1950s, and in 1955 he advertised for work in movie trade publications. Ortiz lived in a small tract house in Tarzana, California with his wife and 19-month-old son. He told Aline Mosby of United Press International that a movie producer had promised to promote his career when he appeared on the radio program This Is Your Life in 1951, but that promised opportunities in film had not materialized and that he had only obtained work as an extra. His ad said that he was "willing and able to do anything".[11]

Ortiz died of cancer on May 16, 1988, at the age of 74 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Plot: Section 59 Site 1269.[12] He was survived by his wife Jean and their son Peter J. Ortiz Jr.[13]

In August 1994, the village of Montgirod, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France, renamed its town hall square the "Place du Colonel Peter Ortiz".[13][14]

Ortiz was the most highly decorated member of the OSS. His decorations and medals include: