Ortiz’s War

The untold story of the Allies’ secret weapon in occupied France.

Peter J. Ortiz’s path to becoming one of the most decorated Marines of World War II was unlike any other: born an American, he ran away from a privileged life in France at eighteen to join the rigorous French Foreign Legion, where he became a decorated veteran in North Africa. After fighting on the front lines against the Germans in 1940, he was wounded and repeatedly escaped captivity, once even fleeing a hospital train by assuming the identity of a dead soldier.

Driven by a fierce determination to restore the honor of France, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and was quickly commissioned after impressing military leadership. Recruited by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), America’s World War II spy agency, Ortiz led two highly dangerous missions, code-named “Union,” into the French Alps. Operating far behind enemy lines, Ortiz successfully organized the fledgling resistance movement known as the Maquis. Using incredible bravado, he infiltrated German officer gatherings by posing as a fashion expert and personally escorted downed Allied airmen across the Pyrenees to safety.

In August 1944, Ortiz led his second mission into the Alps with a team of U.S. Marines, culminating in the massive “Le Grand Parachutage” supply drop to the Maquis. When his small patrol was surrounded by vastly superior German forces in the village of Centron, Ortiz must choose between fighting the enemy and saving the town. Ortiz’s story—an untold corner of World War II history—and extraordinary courage and self-sacrificing devotion cement his place in history forever.