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Colonel PETER JULIEN ORTIZ, OSS MARINE
by Marine Corps historian Benis
M. Frank
While preparing the Marine POWs appendix for Victory and
Occupation, vol. V of History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in
World War II, to locate the names and places of the various POW
camps in which Marines were incarcerated, I had to use the casualty
report prepared by the Reports and Statistical Unit, Personnel Service
Branch at Headquarters Marine Corps. This report was prepared in 1952,
and is the final accounting of Marine casualties in World War II. It was
one of these very wide machine records printout with a large number of
columns, each one having its own code for a prison camp or for POWs, or
whether the individual was KIA, WIA, or Missing in Action Presumed Dead.
As I went from the printout to the code sheet, I was surprised to find
that a handful of Marines had been captured in Europe. I immediately
assumed that these may have been OSS Marines, and to validate this
assumption, I randomly selected the name of one of the POWs, Major Peter
J. Ortiz, and retrieved from the St. Louis personnel records center his
officer's qualification jacket.
A review of the jacket revealed to me a brand new area of Marine
Corps history, i.e., the story of the Marines who served in
Europe with the OSS. I had previously known that such Marines existed,
but not very much about their activities, because they were for the most
part classified and besides, as a Marine Corps historian of Marine
operations in the Pacific, that is where my attention was focused.
As it turned out, Ortiz' exploits before he enlisted in the Marine
Corps were as spectacular as his World War II experiences. So dramatic
were his adventures--that is a very weak word when describing what he
did, but it will have to suffice--that two movies were made about his
accomplishments. One was not too bad a movie, "13 Rue
Madeleine," with James Cagney, and the second, a not too good one.
This was "Operation Secret," with Cornell Wilde. As I later
learned, Ortiz worked on the script of "13 Rue Madeleine," and
for many Hollywood OSS and Foreign Legion pictures, he was the technical
director. [Jacq': He also acted in several pictures.]
However, as I researched and read about Ortiz' exploits in Europe, I
became convinced that in his case, there was no way by which art could
imitate life.
Peter Julien Ortiz was born in New York on 5 August 1913, of a French
father with a strong line of Spanish forebears, and an American mother.
Ortiz père was well connected socially and otherwise in France,
and had his son, who spent much of his youth in that country, educated
there. He was a student at the University of Grenoble when the adventure
bug apparently bit him. As I was told recently, "Pete enlisted in
the Legion just for adventure. He’d read a lot of romantic tales. He
had a Polish girl friend at the time [who was also at Grenoble] and she
accompanied him to Marseilles. He enlisted under her name." His
father made an attempt to buy him out, and when he arrived in Morocco to
take his son home, "Pete would have none of it," and he
remained in the Legion until 1937. During this time, he rose through the
ranks from private to acting lieutenant, and was offered a permanent
commission as second lieutenant if he agreed to reenlist for five years
and consider eventual naturalization as a French citizen. He turned down
the offer and returned to the United States. He was acting lieutenant in
charge of an armored car squadron when he resigned. While with the
Legion, he fought in a number of engagements in Africa and was wounded
in 1933. He was well decorated for this first tour--he received the
Croix de Guerre with two palms, one gold star, one silver star, and five
citations; the Croix des Combattants; the Ouissam Alouite; and the
Medaille Militaire.
He returned to the States and went to California, where his mother
lived. He soon became employed in Hollywood as a technical director on
military matters. When the war broke out in Europe, Ortiz returned to
the Legion. He enlisted in October 1939, got a battlefield commission in
May 1940. For his service 1939-1940, he was decorated with the Croix de
Guerre (one palm, one silver star, two citations), Croix des Combattants,
1939-1949. In June 1940, he was wounded and captured. Ortiz was taken
when he learned that some gasoline had not been destroyed before his men
had withdrawn. He returned to that area on a motorcycle, drove through
the German camp, blew up the gasoline dump, and was on his way back to
his lines when he was shot in the hip, the bullet exiting his body, but
hitting his spine on the way out. He was temporarily paralyzed and
easily taken.
He spent 15 months as a POW in Germany, Poland, and Austria. He
attempted a number of escapes, and finally succeeded in October 1941. He
reached the United States by way of Lisbon on 8 December, and was
interrogated by Army and Navy intelligence officers, and was promised a
commission. It didn’t come through immediately. He had been offered
commissions by the Free French and the British in Portugal, but he
wanted to wear an American uniform. In any case he was not fit for
immediate active duty and, besides, wanted to see his mother in
California. By June 1942, when nothing further was heard about the
commission, he enlisted in the Marine Corps on the 22d and was assigned
to boot camp at Parris Island.
Ortiz was tall, athletically built, handsome, and had a military
carriage, which is understandable since he had served over five years
with the Legion, and it is also understandable that he stood out from
the rest of the recruits in his boot platoon. In addition, he wore his
decorations, which caused no little interest by his DIs and the senior
officers at Parris Island. Colonel Louis R. Jones, a well-decorated
World War I Marine and at this time Chief of Staff at the Recruit Depot,
wrote the Commandant of the Marine Corps about Ortiz on 14 July. He
enclosed in his letter copies of Ortiz’ citations for the French
awards together with Ortiz’ application for a commission. In his
letter, Jones wrote:
Private Ortiz had made an extremely favorable impression upon the
undersigned. His knowledge of military matters is far beyond that of
the normal recruit instructor. Ortiz is a very well set up man and
makes an excellent appearance. The undersigned is glad to recommend
Ortiz for a commission in the Marine Corps Reserve and is of the
opinion that he would be a decided addition to the Reserve Officer
list. In my opinion he has the mental, moral, professional, and
physical qualifications for the office for which he has made
application.
On 1 August 1942, Ortiz was commissioned, with a date of rank of 24
July. He was kept at Parris Island for two months as an assistant
training officer and then sent to Camp Lejeune to join the 23d Marines,
and then, despite the fact that he was a qualified parachutist from his
time in the Legion, he was sent to the Parachute School at Camp Lejeune,
but not for long. In all, counting his jumps with the Legion, at Camp
Lejeune, and with the OSS, he made a total of 154 of all types.
Meanwhile, Headquarters Marine Corps had become very interested in
his record, his duty with the Foreign Legion, and the fact that he was a
native French speaker, and less so with German, Spanish, and Arabic. On
16 November, Colonel Keller E. Rockey, of the Division of Plans and
Policies, sent a memo to Major General Commandant Thomas Holcomb,
stating that "The rather unique experiences and qualifications of
Lieutenant Ortiz indicate that he would be of exceptional value to
American units operating in North Africa. It is suggested that the
services of Lieutenant Ortiz be offered to the Army through COMINCH
{Admiral Ernest J. King, Chief of Naval Operations/Commander in Chief,
U.S. Fleet]." Colonel Rockey also recommended Ortiz’ promotion to
first lieutenant or captain. As a matter of fact, he was promoted to
captain from second lieutenant on 3 December. On the 21st he left
Washington for Tangier, Morocco, where he was assigned duty as assistant
naval attaché. That was just a cover.
He was ordered to organize a patrol of Arab tribesmen to scout German
forces on the Tunisian front. Major General William J. Donovan, Director
of the Office of Strategic Services, forwarded to the Commandant a
message from Algiers which read, "While on reconnaissance on the
Tunisian front, Captain Peter Ortiz, U.S.M.C.R. was severely wounded in
the right hand while engaged in a personal encounter with a German
patrol. He dispersed the patrol with grenades. Captain Ortiz is making
good recovery in hospital at Algiers. The [P]urple [H]eart was awarded
to him." In April 1943, he returned to Washington to recuperate and
in May was assigned to the Naval Command, OSS. In July he flew to London
for further assignment to missions in France.
He was to spend most of his time in France in the southeastern region
known as the Haute Savoie. In that region is the Vercors plateau, which
was of special interest to General Charles de Gaulle, as well as to the
British Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the OSS. Not only were
there some 3,000 Free French Maquisards in the area, but it was
planned to turn Vercors into a redoubt against which the Germans would
attack in vain and which would be a major center of French resistance in
the area to be called upon when D-Day arrived. It was vitally necessary
to contact and arm this group. To attempt this task, SOE decided to form
an inter-allied team consisting of English, French, and American agents.
The mission was codenamed UNION and it was to determine the military
capabilities of the units reported active in Savoie, Isere, and Drome.
The team’s mission was to impress the leaders of such units with the
fact that "organization for guerrilla warfare activity, especially
after D-Day, is now their more important duty." The British team
member was Colonel H.H.A. Thackwaite, a prewar schoolmaster; the French
radio operator was "Monnier," purportedly the best in the
business. Ortiz was the American.
The team dropped into France on the moonless night of 6 January. Per
standard SOE practice, they wore civilian clothes, but carried their
uniforms with them. Once they linked up with the maquis on the
ground, they identified themselves as military men on a military
mission. Accordingly, as M.R.D. Foot wrote in SOE in France, they
were the first Allied officers to appear in uniform in France since
1940. Thackwaite later wrote that "Ortiz, who knew not fear, did
not hesitate to wear his U.S. Marine captain’s uniform in town and
country alike; this cheered the French but alerted the Germans and the
mission was constantly on the move." Parenthetically, I have seen
pictures of Ortiz in uniform in France at this time, and was shocked to
see that he had removed the grommet from his cap, so that he wore it
like Air Corps pilots wore their "30 mission" caps.
Incidentally, Ortiz always thought that Thackwaite’s statement that he
"knew not fear," was absolutely ridiculous. Considering all
that he had been through with the Legion and now with the OSS, of course
he knew fear.
UNION found several large groups of maquisards willing and
ready to fight, but lacking weapons. It took the team considerable time
to arrange for clandestine arms drops and weapons instruction for the maquis.
As Lieutenant Colonel Robert Mattingly wrote in his prize-winning
monograph, Herringbone Cloak--GI Dagger: Marines of the OSS:
It might be reasonable to suppose that the team remained hidden
in the high country, but this was not the case. Ortiz in particular
was fond of going straight into the German-occupied towns. On one
occasion, he strolled into a cafe dressed in a long cape. Several
Germans were drinking and cursing the maquis. One mentioned
the fate which would befall the ‘filthy American swine’ when he
was caught. [The Nazis apparently knew of Ortiz’ existence in the
area with the maquis] This proved a great mistake. Captain
Ortiz threw back the cape revealing his Marine uniform. In each hand
he held a .45 automatic. When the shooting stopped, there were fewer
Nazis to plan his capture and Ortiz was gone into the night.
This story has appeared in several forms, but in any case it appears
that there was this confrontation, with the Nazis the losers. Ortiz
appeared to be truly fearless and altogether brave. He had another
talent, that of stealing Gestapo vehicles from local motor pools. His
citation for the British award making him a Member of the Most
Honourable Order of the British Empire reads in part:
For four months this officer assisted in the organization of
the maquis in a most difficult department where members
were in constant danger of attack...he ran great risks in
looking after four RAF officers
who had been brought down in the neighborhood, and accompanied
them to the Spanish border [at the Pyrenees]. In the course of
his efforts to obtain the release of these officers, he raided a
German military garage and took ten Gestapo motors which he used
frequently...he procured a Gestapo pass for his own use in spite
of the fact that he was well known to the enemy....
The UNION team experienced great problems in getting the area
organized. Money was short and there was a lack of transportation.
Security at the regional and departmental levels was poor, and there was
the country-wide problem of getting resistance organizations with
divergent political views to cooperate. The maquisards lacked
heavy weapons, basic gear such as blankets, field equipment, radios,
ammunition, and the list goes on. In the midst of all this, in late May
1944, before D-Day at Normandy, the UNION team with withdrawn to England
for further assignments.
In England, he was decorated with the first of two Navy Crosses he
was to earn. The citation for the first read:
For extraordinary heroism while attached to the United States
Naval Command, Office of Strategic Services, London, England, in
connection with military operations against an armed enemy, in
enemy-occupied territory, from 8 January to 20 May 1944.
Operating in civilian clothes and aware that he would be subject
to execution in the event of his capture, Major Ortiz parachuted
from an airplane with two other officers of an Inter-Allied
mission to reorganize existing Maquis groups and organize
additional groups in the region of Rhone. By his tact,
resourcefulness and leadership, he was largely instrumental in
effecting the acceptance of the mission by the local resistance
leaders, and also in organizing parachute operations for the
delivery of arms, ammunition and equipment for use by the Maquis
in his region. Although his identity had become known to the
Gestapo with the resultant increase in personal hazard, he
voluntarily conducted to the Spanish border four
Royal Air Force officers who had been shot down in his
region, and later returned to resume his duties. Repeatedly
leading successful raids during the period of this assignment,
Major Ortiz inflicted heavy casualties on enemy forces greatly
superior in number, with small losses to his own forces. By his
heroic leadership and astuteness in planning and executing these
hazardous forays, Major Ortiz served as an inspiration to his
subordinates and upheld the highest traditions of the United
States Naval Service.
Ortiz, who had been promoted to the rank of major, returned to France
on 1 August, the head of a mission entitled UNION II. This was a new
type of OSS mission, an Operational Group. These were heavily armed
contingents which were tasked with direct action against the Germans.
They were not only to conduct sabotage, but also were to seize key
installations to prevent retreating German units from destroying them.
Team members were always in uniform. Accompanying Ortiz on this mission
were Air Corps Captain Francis Coolidge, Gunnery Sergeant Robert La
Salle, Sergeants Charles Perry, John P. Bodnar, Frederick J. Brunner,
and Jack R. Risler, all Marines, and a Free French officer, Joseph
Arcelin, who carried false papers identifying him as a Marine.
This was a daylight drop near the town of les Saises in the Haute
Savoie region. In addition to the team, a large supply of weapons and
ammunition and other supplies in 864 containers for the French Bulle
Battalion operating in the region were also dropped. The mission began
badly, for Perry’s steel parachute cable snapped, and he was dead in
the drop zone. His comrades buried him with military honors.
During the week after they arrived in France, UNION II instructed the
members of the Bulle Battalion on the functioning and maintenance of the
new weapons they had just received. Then they began a series of patrols
in order to link up with other resistance groups believed to be
operating in the area. In an activity report, Brunner later stated:
On 14 August we proceeded to Beaufort where we made contact with
other F.F.I. [Forces Francaises de l’iInterieur] companies
and from there went on to Montgirod where we were told there were
heavy concentrations of Germans. We were able to enter the town but
had no sooner done so than we were heavily shelled by German
batteries located in the hills around the city. We were forced to
retire and hid out in the mountains near Montgirod with the Bulle
Battalion. The Germans quickly surrounded the area.
Two days later, Ortiz and his group were surprised in the town of
Centron by elements of the 157th Alpine Reserve Division, consisting of
10-12 heavy trucks in which there were several hundred troops. The
convoy was headed for the garrison of Bourg-St. Maurice, northeast of
Centron. [Ironically, by 20 August, the Germans were in confused retreat
after the Allied landing in Southern France on 15 August. Also
ironically, the first American jeep entered Albertville, in the Haute
Savoie, on 22 August.] The surprise was mutual. Spotting the Americans,
the trucks screeched to a halt and soldiers tumbled out and began
firing. Brunner later recalled:
Major Ortiz, Sergeant Bodnar and Sergeant Risler withdrew
into the southwest section of the town. Captain Coolidge, ‘Jo-Jo’
[the French member of the team] and I took the southeast. We
retaliated as best we could, working our way under fire toward
the east. I called out to ‘Jo-Jo’ to follow us but he
remained in the town. At this time, Captain Coolidge received a
bullet in the right leg but he kept going. By then we had
reached the bank of the Isere. I dived in and swam across under
fire. I had some difficulty as the current was very swift. It
was then that I became separated from Coolidge and did not see
him again until we met...on 18 August [at the location of
another resistance group].
Ortiz, Risler, and Bodnar were receiving the bulk of the German fire.
As they retreated from house to house in Centron, French civilians
implored them to give up in order to avoid reprisals. Ortiz ordered the
two sergeants to get out while they could, but neither would go without
him. Ortiz recognized that if he and his men shot their way out of the
entrapment, local villagers would undoubtedly suffer for Germans deaths
which a firefight surely would have produced. He knew of the massacre at
Vassieux and the destruction of the town of Oradur-sur-Glane and all of
its inhabitants. In his after-action report given after his liberation
from a POW camp, Ortiz stated:
Since the activities of Mission Union and its previous work
were well know to the Gestapo, there was no reason to hope that
we would be treated as ordinary prisoners of war. For me
personally the decision to surrender was not too difficult. I
had been involved in dangerous activities for many years and was
mentally prepared for my number to turn up. Sergeant Bodnar was
next to me and I explained the situation to him and what I
intended to do. He looked me in the eye and replied, ‘Major,
we are Marines, what you think is right goes for me too.’
Ortiz began shouting to the Germans in an attempt to surrender. When
a brief lull ensued, he stepped forward and calmly walked toward the
Germans as machine gun bullets kicked up dust around him. Finally the
firing stopped, and Ortiz was able to speak to the German officer in
command. The major agreed to accept the surrender of the Americans and
not harm the townspeople. When only two more Marines appeared, the major
became suspicious and demanded to know where the rest of his enemy were.
After a search of the town, the Germans accepted the fact that only
three men had held off a battalion.
Bodnar and Risler were quickly disarmed and Ortiz called them to
attention, and directed that they give only their names, ranks, and
serial numbers as required by the Geneva Convention’s terms relating
to the treatment of prisoners of war. This greatly impressed the
Germans, who began treating them all with marked respect.
From that time, until 29 September, when he reached his final
destination, the naval POW camp Marlag/Milag Nord located in the small
German village of Westertimke outside Bremen, Ortiz looked for every
opportunity to escape, but none presented itself. Fortunately for Ortiz
and the other prisoners, this prison camp was loosely controlled in that
outside of periodic searches and roll calls three times a day, the POWs
were left to themselves. Still, Ortiz tried to escape several times,
despite the fact that the senior Allied POW was a Royal Navy captain who
made it plain to the new arrival that escapes were out. Ortiz then
declared himself the senior American POW present and that he would make
his own rules.
Allied forces were drawing closer each day, and suddenly, on 10
April, the camp commandant ordered all POWs to prepare to leave within
three hours. The column left with such haste, that a number of the
prisoners were left behind. Not Ortiz, for special watch was kept over
him. En route, the column was attacked by diving Spitfires, whereupon
Ortiz, and three other prisoners made for a nearby wood, and waited for
the column to continue on, which it did, leaving him and his fellows
behind unnoticed. Allied progress was slow, and the escapees were not
rescued as quickly as they thought they would be. Ortiz later reported:
We spent ten days hiding, roving at night, blundering into
enemy positions hoping to find our way into British lines. Luck
was with us. Once we were discovered but managed to get away,
and several other times we narrowly escaped detection...By the
seventh night, we had returned near our camp. I made a
reconnaissance of Marlag O....There seemed to be only a token
guard and prisoners of war appeared to have assumed virtual
control of the compounds.
The escapees were in bad physical shape. On the tenth day, the four
men decided it might be better to live in their old huts than to starve
to death outside. They walked back into the camp, no commotion was
raised by the guards, and the remaining POWs gave them a rousing
welcome. Among the reception committee were Bodnar, Risler, and the
French "Marine," Jo-Jo--Joseph Arcelin. The battle reached
Westertimke on 27 April, and two days later, the British 7th Guards
Armoured Division liberated the camp. Along with Bodnar, Risler, and
Second Lieutenant Walter Taylor, another OSS officer who had been
captured in Southern France, Ortiz reported to a U.S. Navy radar officer
assigned to a Royal Marine commando attached to the Guards Division. The
Marines wanted to join this unit in order to bag a few more Germans
before the war was ended. Their request was refused.
Ortiz and his fellow Marines were sent to staging areas behind the
front, and then to Brussels where he reported to the OSS
officer-in-charge. He then was sent to London, where he was awarded his
second Navy Cross, the citation for which read:
For extraordinary heroism while serving with the Office of
Strategic Services during operations behind enemy Axis lines in the
Savoie Department of France, from 1 August 1944, to 27 April 1945.
After parachuting into a region where his activities had made him an
object of intensive search by the Gestapo, Major Ortiz valiantly
continued his work in coordinating and leading resistance groups in
that section. When he and his team were attacked and surrounded
during a special mission designed to immobilize enemy reinforcements
stationed in that area, he disregarded the possibility of escape
and, in an effort to spare villagers severe reprisals by the
Gestapo, surrendered to this sadistic Geheim Staats Polizei [sic].
Subsequently imprisoned and subjected to numerous interrogations, he
divulged nothing, and the story of this intrepid Marine Major and
his team has become a brilliant legend in that section of France
where acts of bravery were considered commonplace. By his
outstanding loyalty and self-sacrificing devotion to duty, Major
Ortiz contributed materially to the success of operations against a
relentless enemy, and upheld the highest traditions of the United
States Naval Service.
Ortiz returned to California and civilian life in the movie industry
as both a technical advisor and as an actor. He was a good friend of
director John Ford, who put him in a couple of John Wayne movies. He
wasn’t the greatest of actors, and he never really liked seeing the
movies he was in. He remained in the Marine Corps Reserve, reaching the
rank of lieutenant colonel. He was offered the command of a reserve tank
battalion located in San Diego, but had to turn it down because his
commitments in Hollywood kept him quite busy. In April 1954, he wrote a
letter to the Commandant, volunteering to return to active duty to serve
as a Marine observer in Indochina. The Marine Corps was unable to accept
Ortiz’ offer because "current military policies will not permit
the assignment requested."
He retired in March 1955 and was promoted to colonel on the retired
list for having been decorated in combat. In October 1945, the French
government decreed him a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. He also
received the Croix de Guerre with five citations, the Medaille de
Blesses, Medaille d’Evades, Medaille Coloniale. In addition to his two
Navy Crosses, his American awards included the Legion of Merit with
Combat "V" and two Purple Heart Medals. And, as noted earlier,
he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (Military
Division).
On 16 May 1988, Colonel Peter J. Ortiz, USMCR (Ret) died of cancer,
and in doing so, lost the only battle of the many he fought. He was
buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery, with
military representatives of the British and French governments present.
While the name of Peter Ortiz may not be well known to present-day
Marines or to the American people, it is certain that the citizens of
les Saisies or of Centron will never forget him and the Marines who
fought with him in France. Both towns commemorated the anniversaries of
the major events which occurred in each place 50 years earlier. Invited
to attend the ceremonies in August 1994 were Colonel Ortiz’ wife,
Jean, and their son, Marine Lieutenant Colonel Peter J. Ortiz, Jr.,
retired Sergeant Major John P. Bodnar, and former Sergeant Jack R.
Risler. Also present at the ceremonies were Lieutenant Colonel Robert L.
Parnell II, USMC, assistant Naval Attaché in Paris, and Colonel Peter
T. Metzger, commander of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, then in the
Mediterranean, together with a color guard and an honor guard from his
unit.
On 1 August 1994, the ceremonies at les Saisies began in the
afternoon with a parachute drop made by French troops. Members of the
famous Chasseurs Alpins together with the 26th MEU Marines
rendered honors as a monument acclaiming the 1994 event was dedicated.
Twelve days later, the town of Centron held its own ceremonies when it
unveiled a plaque naming the town center "Place Peter Ortiz."
This event was attended by many former members of the local maquis
unit in the region, as well as the Marine contingent and Mrs. Ortiz and
her son. As an aside, during CBS’ coverage of the last Winter Olympics
in Albertville and the surrounding region, Charles Kuralt had a
20-minute spot about Peter Ortiz, telling of his exploits.
Peter Julien Ortiz was a man among men. It is doubtful that his kind
has been seen since his time. |
