The long journey to writing Old Breed General.
In 2016, Don Brown, a former Navy JAG officer, practicing attorney, and author of several books whom I met through politics (and now my co author) messaged me this photo from 1937, and posed a tantalizing question that catapulted me back in time.
“Hey Amy, is this your grandfather in this picture?”
“Yes, that is him on the left,” I messaged back.
The photo he found online was of a special time in history. My Grandfather was next to our beautiful Grandmother Sleepy. They were with thier friends at an embassy party when they were serving in Shanghai China, 1937 with the 4th Marine Regiment, known as the China Marines.
Don said he had come across my Grandfather, Major General William H. Rupertus, as he was researching his book on Jerry Yellen, “The Last Fighter Pilot” from WWII.
Then Don wrote, “He was a hero. You need to tell his story.”
I joked that I have been thinking about writing the story since our mom Gail died in 2004 (over twelve years earlier). Unbelievable how time flies, right?
What would my Marine Dad or Grandfather say about that?
Well, I know what my Dad would say,
“Get off your ass. And don’t take a lazy boy load!”
A month after Don reached out to me on Facebook, we met in person for lunch in Charlotte. After getting to know him better, I suggested Don, a published author, write the book about my grandfather. He did not even blink as he looked me straight in the eyes, and leaned toward me.
“You are his granddaughter. You have to write it. Write it for your family and history. Really, start it this year. Do it before it’s too late.”
Was that a challenge or what? Why wait any longer. He was right. My sisters and I lost our parents too young. But between kids, work, politics and life, there never has been the perfect time to take a deep dive into our history, both the good and sad, and hang around for awhile.
Would I go there? Could I?
This picture from 1937 Shanghai was worth a thousand words. Maybe millions of words.
Oh my God, it may set me back. It may make me cry about my parents and all our family legends and miss them more. Going back? Ouch.
What will be lost if I don’t do it?
The story will never be told. And the later generations may throw away all of the albums and military documents we have, or gasp, put them and the medals on Ebay..because they have no reference to the history.
That was all the motivation I needed to get it done. So, I committed to figuring out how to tackle this enormous project, and my sisters got on board.
I soon learned being a civilian trying to write about military history would take rolling up my sleeves and sitting my ass in the chair. As well as collaborating with former members of the military.
Looking back, I never thought this process would so totally consume me for eight years.
Since 2016, I have obtained our grandfather’s 700 page PEP file from the National Archives and his service record from the Marine Corps and spent thousands of hours researching and writing to connect the history….and challenge scuttlebutt.
I reached out to military and history researchers in the US, England, and China, and have talked or met with WWII Pacific veterans and their children.
Team Rupertus!
By Spring 2018, I called in my sisters, aka team Rupertus -to help to get all our family and ancestors content in one place, and then figure out how to organize it.
My sister Kimberly flew in from California with the family albums, and our sister Heather drove down from Virginia, with cases of history in her car. Kimberly’s son Gunner was in town and with the kids, so I could focus on the task at hand, and enjoy my sisters and our investigation.
Once we got together and settled, we carefully put all the letters, documents, telegrams, albums, etc, out on the long mahogany table originally belonging to our Grandparents, and the rest all over the dining room chairs. We got up early each morning and worked all day until late at night.
We discovered gems and intriguing correspondence never before seen by ourselves or mentioned by historians or writers. We began to tie things together.
Here I am with Heather trying to decipher Grandfather Bill’s handwriting on this long letter he wrote while on the ship to his wife Sleepy. The date on the letter is September 14, 1944, the eve before d-day on Peleliu.
Time to go to Quantico.
In January 2019, my sisters and I met up at Quantico to do more research. Boy did we have fun together and felt welcome the minute we stepped on the base and into the doors of the Brigadier General Edwin H. Simmons Marine Corps History Center.
Immediately we bumped into General Bill Bowers, who at the time was the President, Marine Corps University and Commanding General, Education Command. He seemed to know quite a lot about our Grandfather and gave us an enthusiastic welcome. He also helped carry our heavy containers of albums we trekked in from the parking garage across the snow.
In reflection, this was a fabulous coincidence meeting him right as we walked into the building, as our Grandfather’s last position after returning from the Pacific was Commandant of the Marine Corps Schools (now the Marine Corps University).
Finally meeting Annette Amerman and her team at the USMC History Division and meeting Alisa Whitley and her team at the USMC Archives Division was fun and an honor.
These two USMC historical divisions have been enormously helpful and supportive since I began this book journey.
The Archives team actually found film of our grandparents and grandfather with our young dad running around Quantico, and in tanks, planes and holding rifles. And, they discovered film from when our grandfather and the 1st Marine Division was on Pavuvu. Both of these films they kindly put onto DVDs for all three of us.
The Marine Corps Museum
We also visited the spectacular Marine Corps Museum and got an exclusive tour by Scott Gardiner. It was interesting to see the Marines history so closely tied to our United States history. And, we had an an unexpected surprise (or another coincidence?) as we looked above in the Vietnam War section and saw an actual A-4 Skyhawk!
This is what our dad, Patrick Hill Rupertus, flew during the Vietnam War.
A the Museums bar we talked to young Marines who interestingly did not know much about this WWII Pacific history.
The China Marines
We finally met my China Marine contact Dirk Haig in person. He runs the China Marines website. We sat in our hotel lobby and talked for two hours, sharing many stories, maps and photos.
Our grandfather was with the China Marines twice, once in Peking (1929-1931) then again in Shanghai (1937-1938).
Want to know more about this significant chapter in the Marine Corps and history? Check out his excellent site: http://www.chinamarines.com
The National WWII Museum
In Spring 2019, my husband and I went to New Orleans to visit the WWII Museum. Wow! I highly recommend this fabulous museum that covers World War II – both the war in Europe and the Pacific. I could have spent days there. They recently built a hotel right across from the museum, which is super convenient.
Little did I know I would return to the National WWII Museum in 2022 as a speaker (with my co-author Don) and our talk would be covered by C-Span!
Check it out: https://www.nationalww2museum.org
Did you know that if you have a World War II veteran in your family, they will work with you to fly them to New Orleans and get them to the museum- all for free? #Honorflight
Don’t get me started on Ancestry.com. It can lull you in.
But I used that and Fold3 and accessed online library databases and newspapers from across the US and the world to see newspapers during our grandfather’s lifetime.
Kimberly took months off to go on a research journey to assist in this process and archived our research and data on Dropbox. She has excellent organizational skills.
This was so helpful as I was hunkered down writing while the kids were at school or asleep.
I had two large containers of files near my desk full of primary sources, and more gems of primary source material and historical data online via Dropbox.
In addition to the above, I have read books about the battles in China and the Pacific and the men who served there. I have read the record of events and after-action reports, watched videos, and listened to or read many oral histories of Marines who served with our grandfather and the 1st Marine Division in the Pacific.
I often listen to 1940s music while writing.
Gets you in the mood. Hello Glen Miller!
I learned music brings you in the right time period when I was an extra in the movie Forrest Gump years ago in Washington, DC.
His story made me laugh and cry.
It was hard to imagine him losing his entire family to Scarlet Fever in Peking, China during 1929/1930. His wife Marguerite was 38, his son William was 14, and his daughter Anne Rodney was 4. All gone in two months.
Then, the Battle of Shanghai and WWII Pacific.
Yet, he plowed through grief and war and survived. I became so mesmerized by his story it was hard to leave some chapters behind.
I have no problem with writer’s block.
There is much to learn and share about this jaw-dropping time in our world history. I had to push myself away from the desk to be present and make dinner for the family (Thank you kids and hubby!!). There are still days when I just want to work on this book in the quiet of our garage apartment.
I can work hours without a break -often late into the night. I have spent nights tossing and turning in bed thinking about it, how he persevered after losing his entire first family and seeing his fellow Marines perish, or how this book, co-written by a civilian and Don (my military asset), will be perceived by the military.
As days go by, how did I get here?
By September 2019, the manuscript was over 30 chapters and 350 pages.
.
It was an emotional journey to research and write this history.
But thank God I did it. For family and history.
It helped me get to know my grandparents and their relatives and Marine and Navy friends, whom I never met. And, learn about key military figures. It made me realize we are not so far away from the wars, who served in them, and the impact on society; countries, our warriors, and civilians.
I discovered facts I never learned in school or in books about WWII Pacific.
It has left me in awe of our young country and the bravery of our military and civilians in wartime.
God, how I wish we could have prevented this book to our Dad before he died in 1991 of Agent Orange-related lung cancer.
We all hated to lose him at the age of 51.
While at USNA (1957-1962), we discovered he worked on the logistics of the Guadalcanal campaign and actually interviewed many officers who served with his father, General Rupertus.
Maybe my friend Stuart Watson (whose biological father was on Peleliu) knew about our Dad. Because when he prodded during our podcast interview, I choked up.
Was I writing this for our father?
Hmm. It was about family.
I took a break from almost everything unrelated to researching and writing. I became a sort of introvert~!
Laser Focus on Your Goals.
As I learned from my grandfather, you must have a laser focus – and tenacity of purpose – to reach your goals and achieve the mission before you.
My mission and purpose was to get this story down.
I continued working on the book through COVID-19 and in 2021 put the pedal to the metal, editing the book with Don and the publisher.
In February 2022, Old Breed General was published.
We drop the reader in August 1942 on a ship in the Pacific with General Rupertus and the 1st Marine Division (The Old Breed). It’s exciting and heart-pumping as the massive Allied armada slices through the vast Pacific to meet the Japanese on Tulagi and Guadalcanal.
General Rupertus aboard the USS Neville facing the camera.
Overall we have had fabulous reviews.
The paperweight chosen by the publisher was unusually thin. As a result, the maps bled, and the photos were not as clear as I would have liked. But, it is still a thrilling read, and you can see the photos and maps on my author website and my Facebook group.
I have a Facebook page for the book which I started in 2016 (and building a new one), and a Twitter and TikTok account where I have made great connections. There is a YouTube channel @MajGenRupertus full of videos and audio of him and the 1st Marine Division in WWII Pacific.
Old Breed General is now available in print, e-book and audiobook.
Since the book was published, we have spoken at Marine Corps events, the WWII Museum in New Orleans, LA, the Reagan Library in Simi, CA, the Duke Mansion in Charlotte, and on podcasts such as the Pacific War Channel, WW2TV, PickUptheSix, MCA Scuttlebutt, and more. I’ve had an article in the Marine Corps Leatherneck (May 2023) and was featured in Investors Business Daily (August 2023).
I am enchanted by this story.
It could be a movie or streaming series.
Thank you for the inspiration and collaboration, Don.
Thanks to my husband, kids, sisters, friends, and all those who supported us on this journey – to this day.
I could not have done it without you.
Onward.
