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So, this one time, there was this Marine named Peter Ortiz (of the Major variant, later became the Colonel variant) and let us tell you something, man, he was a real pain in the ass for Nazi's in World War 2. Well, what exactly did Peter Ortiz do to the Nazis? Well, he smoked 'em if he had em and boy did he always have em. Despite all sorts of intelligence that the Gestapo had on Peter, it didn't stop him from going behind enemy lines and wreaking pure havoc. Here is one of those stories.In 1944, Peter Ortiz was dropped behind enemy lines wearing civilian clothes. Ahhh every Marine's dream, to be in a target rich environment and the targets unaware that they were targets. Very sneaky Peter, very sneaky indeed. He jumped into occupied France in order to help organize the resistance groups. He got the French everything they needed from armaments, ammo and other mission-critical equipment. He was doing all of this while the Nazi's were actively hunting him. No matter all of that, he personally escorted four British pilots to the Spanish border and then...well kids, then it got interesting.Peter Ortiz and his resistance groups starting piling up Nazis "Inglourious Basterds" style. Conducting raids with the French resistance group, Peter Ortiz lead many of these raids and as we stated inflicted heavy, heavy casualties on their foes. Had it not been for Peter Ortiz's leadership and devotion to duty, with extreme risk to himself, and his avoidance of that ever so fatal disease of a bullet in the old grape, the French resistance may have withered away and died.[caption id="attachment_17319" align="alignnone" width="750"]
Photo courtesy of Laura Lacey[/caption]For Colonel Peter Ortiz, there was never any question in his mind about doing his job. He set forth with a resolve that is inspiring to this very day. Oh, also, they awarded him the Navy Cross for his Nazi smokin' activities. Semper Fidelis sir!Read more stories of American Grit here:
