I finished reading Dakota Meyer's book; "Into the Fire", which explains how he earned the Medal of Honor. This is the story of a Man who was trying to save his "Brothers" during a terrible battle in Afghanistan. His Bravery was to try and aid his brothers who were caught in an ambush, he pushed his driver to keep going while he operated the machine gun in the turret. His actions show that he was trying to save his brothers by reading how he followed the tracers from his machine gun to get to the enemy gun, his concentration was to get there, not just the battle. Here is a Man who went into the Marine Corps because he wanted to, his Grandfather had been a Marine.
Reading about his Bravery and some considered him Fearless. I thought about another Marine Hero who is seldom written about, but was absolutely Fearless. His name is Col. Peter Ortiz, he was born in New York but went to school in France. At age 19, in 1932, he joined the Foreign Legion, though his father tried to buy his release he stayed in the Legion and fought in Morocco and became the youngest Sergeant in theLegion. When his enlistment expired he returned to the States, but at the outbreak of World War II in 1939 he enlisted as a Sergeant in the Legion, fighting the Germans in the battle of France. He earned the Croix de Guerre, Medal des Blesses and other medals for his Bravery in that Battle. He was wounded and captured but managed to escape, and return to the U.S. and in 1942 he joined the Marines. At Parris Island he wore his medals as a Private and the CG of Parris Island informed the Commandant that this man should be a Captain of Marines rather than a Private. He was Commissioned a Second Lieutenant in June of 1942 and Captain in December. With his knowledge of the region he was loaned to the Army and sent to North Africa where he formed a group of Arabs and fought behind the German lines. He was wounded and sent back to the States to recover. In 1943, as a Member of the OSS (the fore runner of the CIA) he was dropped by parachute into a German Occupied part of France as part of a three man team; Ortiz, a Brit Captain and a French Colonel. He drove 4 RAF Pilots, that had been shot down over France, to Spain so they could return to Britain. Ortiz was promoted to Major and was parachuted back into France in 1944. One of his exploits was in a French Town (he was known by the Free French for wearing his Marine Uniform to lead them on Missions) in a bar where some Germans were cursing President Roosevelt and the United States Marines. Ortiz excused himself and went to his room, put on his Marine Uniform, put on a rain coat over it and returned to the bar.
He took off his rain coat, pulled out two Colt .45 Automatic pistols and made the Germans drink to the Health of the United States, to President Roosevelt, and to the U. S. Marines. He then left the bar. Major Peter Ortiz was captured later and imprisoned in a POW camp until the War ended, and he was returned to the United States.
His Awards for Bravery are; 2 Navy Cross, 2 Purple Heart, Legion of Merit, Order of the British Empire, FIVE Croix d Guerre, Medaille Blesses, Medaille des Evades, Medaille Coloniale and most of all; Chevalier of the Legion d'honneur, which is Considered the French Medal of Honor.
Considered by all that served with him as absolutely Fearless. The worse part of this story is that you can get only part of his story (though he is one of the most Decorated Marines ever) in a book titled; "Herringbone cloak-Gi Dagger, Marines of the OSS".
GySgt. F. L. Rousseau, USMC Retired