[1] While he was stationed here in Serbia, Germany launched the Invasion of Yugoslavia, and Fortier was the only representative of the Diplomatic corps with the responsibility to suspend the bombardment of the city.

The official notice of his award for his Distinguished Service Medal here reads: Lieutenant Colonel Fortier was charged with the mission of making contact first with the Yugoslav Prime Minister at Zvornik and, later, with the German authorities in Hungary with a view to ending the bombardment of Belgrade.

Lieutenant Colonel Fortier combined to a marked degree the qualities of diplomat and soldier and by his initiative and prompt and forceful action successfully accomplished his mission, and his activities are credited by the American Minister with having resulted in causing the terrific bombardment of Belgrade to be suspended.

[3]The Balkans were eventually overrun, and Fortier was ordered back to the United States and to the War Department General Staff as Head of the Western European Division of the G-2.

[6] From 1949 to 1950, and the beginning of the Korean War, Fortier was deployed to Japan and Korea, where he served on General Douglas MacArthur's staff as the Director of Theater Intelligence.

[2] In his retirement, he was the commander in chief of the Military Order of the World Wars (MOWW) and the president of the District of Columbia chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution.

[1] While at MOWW, Fortier lobied on Capitol Hill to help defeat the plan by Robert McNamara to merge the Army Reserves and the National Guard.