Permission was refused. The citation for his second Navy Cross, 12 awarded in London, read:
For extraordinary heroism … 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. 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. 13
Ortiz was shipped back to California, where his mother was living. There he earned a living as military advisor on several feature films directed by John Ford and acted in two that he could not bear to watch afterwards because they were typically embarrassing Hollywoodian dramatisations of his own exploits. One was 13 Rue Madeleine with James Cagney, and the second was Operation Secret with Cornell Wilde.
In the 1950s, promoted to lieutenant colonel in the USMC Reserve, Ortiz volunteered to be sent as an American ‘adviser’ to French Indo-China, where his beloved Legion was fighting the communist Viet Minh. This was refused for political reasons. Decorated many times by US, British and French governments, Ortiz died of cancer in 1988 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honours. 14
Notes
1 Quoted in Azema, J.-P., De Munich à la Libération (1938–1944) , Paris, Seuil, 1980.
2 More details on http://alain.cerri.free.fr – a site developed by Roger Cerri’s son to publish his father’s wartime diaries.
3 Also spelled Montiévert and Montiévran.
4 More details at http://alain.cerri.free.fr.
5 Other records suggest earlier, at 1630hrs, but all agree that it was as the light was failing.
6 Noguères, H., Résistants contre SS 1943–44 , Paris, Editions Tallander, 1987, p. 1576.
7 Vistel, A., La Nuit sans Ombre , Paris, Fayard, 1970, p. 362.
8 Code-named Operation Anvil during the planning phase.
9 Noguères, p. 1569.
10 See www.militarymuseum.org/Ortiz.html .
11 Ibid.
12 He also received the honour of a Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur, the Croix de Guerre with five citations, the Médaille des Blessés, the Médaille des Evadés and the Médaille Coloniale. His other American awards included the Legion of Merit with Combat ‘V’ and two Purple Heart medals.
13 See www.militarymuseum.org/Ortiz.html .
14 More details on site of USMC www.marines.mil .
6
----
THE TROJAN HORSE
Lying some 75 miles south-west of the Glières is another limestone outcrop of the Alps that divide France from Switzerland and Italy. The Vercors plateau is an irregularly shaped block pushed upwards 1 million years ago by tectonic pressure when the African continental plate collided with the European plate. Wind, water and glaciation combined to split it into several sub-blocks separated by spectacularly deep gorges. Approximately 30 miles wide north–south by 10 miles east–west, with the near-impenetrable eastern escarpment rising sheer to over 6,000ft above sea level, the region is today primarily known for Nordic skiing in winter and for hiking, mountain cycling, rock climbing and other outdoor sports in summer. The casual visitor with an eye for natural beauty will marvel at the savage bleakness of the bare higher slopes, the forests and alpine meadows leading from
For extraordinary heroism … 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. 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. 13
Ortiz was shipped back to California, where his mother was living. There he earned a living as military advisor on several feature films directed by John Ford and acted in two that he could not bear to watch afterwards because they were typically embarrassing Hollywoodian dramatisations of his own exploits. One was 13 Rue Madeleine with James Cagney, and the second was Operation Secret with Cornell Wilde.
In the 1950s, promoted to lieutenant colonel in the USMC Reserve, Ortiz volunteered to be sent as an American ‘adviser’ to French Indo-China, where his beloved Legion was fighting the communist Viet Minh. This was refused for political reasons. Decorated many times by US, British and French governments, Ortiz died of cancer in 1988 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honours. 14
Notes
1 Quoted in Azema, J.-P., De Munich à la Libération (1938–1944) , Paris, Seuil, 1980.
2 More details on http://alain.cerri.free.fr – a site developed by Roger Cerri’s son to publish his father’s wartime diaries.
3 Also spelled Montiévert and Montiévran.
4 More details at http://alain.cerri.free.fr.
5 Other records suggest earlier, at 1630hrs, but all agree that it was as the light was failing.
6 Noguères, H., Résistants contre SS 1943–44 , Paris, Editions Tallander, 1987, p. 1576.
7 Vistel, A., La Nuit sans Ombre , Paris, Fayard, 1970, p. 362.
8 Code-named Operation Anvil during the planning phase.
9 Noguères, p. 1569.
10 See www.militarymuseum.org/Ortiz.html .
11 Ibid.
12 He also received the honour of a Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur, the Croix de Guerre with five citations, the Médaille des Blessés, the Médaille des Evadés and the Médaille Coloniale. His other American awards included the Legion of Merit with Combat ‘V’ and two Purple Heart medals.
13 See www.militarymuseum.org/Ortiz.html .
14 More details on site of USMC www.marines.mil .
6
----
THE TROJAN HORSE
Lying some 75 miles south-west of the Glières is another limestone outcrop of the Alps that divide France from Switzerland and Italy. The Vercors plateau is an irregularly shaped block pushed upwards 1 million years ago by tectonic pressure when the African continental plate collided with the European plate. Wind, water and glaciation combined to split it into several sub-blocks separated by spectacularly deep gorges. Approximately 30 miles wide north–south by 10 miles east–west, with the near-impenetrable eastern escarpment rising sheer to over 6,000ft above sea level, the region is today primarily known for Nordic skiing in winter and for hiking, mountain cycling, rock climbing and other outdoor sports in summer. The casual visitor with an eye for natural beauty will marvel at the savage bleakness of the bare higher slopes, the forests and alpine meadows leading from
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