He wore his U.S. Marine uniform openly in Nazi-occupied France. He forced a room fu of German officers to raise a toast to President Roosevelt at gunpoint. He escaped POW camps, trained the French Resistance, and once surrendered himself to save an entire village from destruction. Peter Ortiz was one of the most decorated Marines of World War II - and almost no one has heard his story. Until now.Ortiz's War: The Allies' Secret Weapon Against the Nazis in France by Nicholas Reynolds and Katie S. Sanders (releasing August 25, 2026, from Harper Horizon) brings to life the extraordinary exploits of a man who lived like a character out of fiction, yet every word is true.Co-author Katie S. Sanders, an investigative journalist, uncovered a family secret hidden in an archival recording of the radio show This Is Your Life. Her grandfather, Jewish-American B-24 pilot Lieutenant Murray Simon, had been shot down over occupied France, and guided to safety by Peter Ortiz himself. That discovery sent Katie on a years-long journey to document the man who saved her grandfather's life. It's a compelling human story of legacy, memory, and gratitude that resonates far beyond the WWII shelf.. Nicholas Reynolds brings deep authority to the narrative. A retired Marine Corps Colonel and former infantry officer, he holds a PhD from Oxford University and served as a historian for both the Marine Corps and the CIA Museum. Together, Reynolds and Sanders pair rigorous historical research with the intimacy of family history.What Ortiz's War offers:The real-life James Bond: Ortiz's daring, cinematic exploits as an OSS operative behind enemy lines, complete with disguises, gunpoint toasts, and audacious escapes.The surrender at Centron: The gripping account of how Ortiz gave himself up to spare a French village from Nazi reprisal, a story of honor and self-sacrifice.A granddaughter's quest: Katie's personal search to trace the man who rescued her grandfather, and what she learned along the way.Inside the secret war: The complex, sometimes tense collaboration between the OSS, the British SOE, and the French Resistance.
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