SOUTHAMPTON BOMBED AGAIN; GREEKS PRESS DRIVE TO SEA (12/2/40)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 12/2/40 | C.L. Sulzberger, Hanson W. Baldwin

[PAR35]

Apparently, the OSS used a few in Europe, jumping them into Southern France in 1944. I also ran across a reference to some detached marines jumping in China during WWII.

It appears that Peter Julien Ortiz was a Marine officer who jumped into France with the OSS, but his American paratroop training was in 1942, so I don’t think he was in one of the Paramarine battalions. (He’d previously served a couple of stints in the French Foreign Legion.)

He apparently went in twice, first to Vercors on a team where he was the only American (that team was withdrawn before the DeGaulle instigated fiasco pretty much wiped out the communist units there). The second time he went in with a team made up primarily of Marines, and operated somewhat northeast of his original location. (Both areas are south of Lake Geneva, and west of the Italian border. The first is just west of Grenoble, the second is near Albertville.)

The references elsewhere on the internet appear to refer to this second operation. I don’t know whether any of the others were Paramarines.

Here’s a brief quote, “ Accompanying Ortiz on this mission were Air Corps Captain Francis Coolidge, Gunnery Sergeant Robert La Salle, Sergeants Charles Perry, John P. Bodnar, Frederick J. Brunner, and Jack R. Risler, all Marines, and a Free French officer, Joseph Arcelin, who carried false papers identifying him as a Marine.”

http://gunnyg.blogspot.com/2003_04_23_archive.html

[CougarGA7]

Very interesting find. It's hard to tell if these men were part of one of the Paramarine battalions or not, but if I was OSS looking to form an infiltration unit, I would prefer the guys I pick to already have the drop training. Saves time. It wouldn't surprise me at all if these guys had originated out of the Paramarine units or at least had trained with them.

What looking I did turned up some action by these units, but not a single jump. TOP OF THE LADDER: Marine Operations in the Northern Solomons makes mention of the 1st Marine Parachute Regiment's action on Bougainville. Aparantly there is also a book called "Paramarine: Uniforms and Equipment of Marine Corps Parachute Units in World War II" by Chris Mason that would give some more information, but there is no online postings from the book and I don't think it would be worth the 50 bucks for it on Amazon.