Commonwealth Club: Katie Sanders: Ortiz’s War

Peter Ortiz’s path to becoming the most battle-decorated member of America’s first spy agency—and one of the most decorated Marines of World War II—was unlike any other. Born in New York and raised in both California and France, he was a merchant seaman, dude ranch manager, race car driver, lion tamer, circus performer, and Hollywood stuntman and actor. As a teenager, Ortiz ran away from boarding school to join the French Foreign Legion. He fought in North Africa against Saharan tribesmen, and on the front lines against the Germans in 1940, where he was badly wounded and captured. But he repeatedly escaped, one time fleeing a hospital train after assuming the identity of a dead soldier. Arriving in the United States the day after Pearl Harbor, Ortiz immediately enlisted in the Marine Corps. Since he could speak French like a native, and get by in Arabic, German and Spanish, Ortiz was recruited by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS)—America’s World War II forerunner to the Central Intelligence Agency—for special operations in North Africa and Europe. In 1944, Ortiz parachuted into France on two top-secret Allied missions. Operating behind enemy lines, he traveled throughout Southeastern France—at times donning his Marine uniform—arming and training the Maquis, blowing up Nazi infrastructure, and aiding downed Allied airmen. Using many secret identities, including fashion designer and minor Vichy government official, he infiltrated Nazi gatherings and funneled intelligence about German positions back to OSS London ahead of D-Day. By the time he escaped across the Pyrenees, he was on the Gestapo’s most wanted list. Two months after the Normandy landings, Ortiz parachuted back into the French Alps, this time with a team of Americans to drop more than 150 tons of supplies for the Maquis to fight with. When his six-man patrol was surrounded by more than 100 Germans in the village of Centron, Ortiz decided to surrender rather than have the furious Nazis annihilate the French villagers. Join us to hear Katie Sanders discuss Ortiz’s highly decorated career as a Marine, fighting behind enemy lines during World War II, displaying extraordinary courage, resistance, and self-sacrifice.