Harvard Book Store welcomes Nicholas Reynolds—author, military historian, and retired Colonel USMC veteran—and Katie Sanders—award-winning journalist who has written for National Geographic, The New York Times, and other publications—for a discussion of their new book, Ortiz’s War: The Allies’ Secret Weapon Against the Nazis in France.
About Ortiz’s War
The untold story of the Allies’ secret weapon in occupied France.
Peter J. 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 between California and France, he would have stints as 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 in France to join the French Foreign Legion. He first experienced combat in North Africa against tribesmen in the Sahara. Fighting on the front lines against the Germans in 1940, he was badly wounded and captured. He repeatedly escaped, one time fleeing a hospital train after assuming the identity of a dead soldier.