What are your favorite Christmas songs? You can get a preview of some of mine below.
Ahh, joyful memories. Happy Holidays & Merry Christmas!
#FlashbackFriday
Three years ago in 2016, Don Brown, a former Navy Jag officer, practicing attorney, and author of several books whom I met through politics, messaged me this photo from 1937, and posed a tantalizing question.
“Hey Amy, is this your grandfather in this picture?”
“Yes, that is him on the left,” I messaged back.
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.”
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.
(Top row) US Marine Captain Zern. (Next row down, L-R) Captain J.H. Griebel, Mrs. S.C. Zern, and (unknown gent). (Next row down, L-R) Lt. Col. William H. Rupertus, Alice ‘Sleepy’ Hill Rupertus, Lt. Col. H.C. Pierce, Dorice Kengla Masters, and 1st Lt. James M. Masters Sr (slightly behind).
I joked that I have been thinking about writing the story since my mom died (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 the damn job done.”
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. Why wait?”
Was that a challenge or what? Why wait any longer. He was right. 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? It seemed too decadent, too luxurious.
This picture 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 next generation may throw away all of the albums and military documents we have, or gasp, put them and the medals on Ebay.
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 and non historian trying to write about the military and history would take rolling up my sleeves and sitting my ass in the chair. Yet, I never thought this process would so totally consume me.
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 what we have in our hands today with 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.
By spring 2018, I needed to call in team Rupertus’s help to get all our family and ancestory content in one place, and then figure out how to organize it.
My sisters and I have used most any excuse to get together for fun since our parents have been deceased, so I sounded the rally call to see if they could come to Charlotte by May.
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. My husband was out of town and 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.
In doing this we discovered gems and intriguing correspondence never before seen by ourselves or mentioned by historians or writers and began to tie things together.
Here I am with Heather trying to decipher Grandfather Bill’s handwriting on this long letter he wrote while while on the ship to Sleepy and our dad Pat. The date on the letter is September 14, 1944, the eve before d-day on Peleliu.
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 an honor.
These USMC historical divisons 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.
Thank you Annette and Alisa!
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 flew. So cool.
We talked to other Marines and on the morning of our last day, we met my contact who runs the China Marines website. We sat in our hotel lobby and talked for two hours, sharing many stories and photos. Grandad 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
We got so much done, but it is clear to me now, before this book is complete, I may need to make another trip to Quantico and dive into those archives.
Pardon our exuberance. 🙂
In Spring 2019, my super supportive 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. I’d love to go back.
Check it out: https://www.nationalww2museum.org
They have a few fabulous restaurants with bars inside to help keep up your stamina. And, 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 for free? #Honor
In addition to all of the above, I have read books about the battles in the Pacific and the men who served there. I have watched vidoes and listened to or read many, many oral histories of Marines who served with our grandfather and the 1st Marine Division in the Pacific.
Dont get me started on Ancestry.com. How it can lull you in. But I used that and Fold3, and accessed online library databases and newspapers from across the US and world.
I often listen to 1940s music for fun while writing and have a Facebook page for the book called Discovering my Grandfather and a Twitter account for him too where I have made great connections. @MajGenRupertus
His story made me laugh and really cry. I often became so memerized it was hard to leave certain chapters behind. I literally had to push myself away from the desk.
I have no problem with writers block. There is so much to learn and share about this jaw-dropping time in our history.
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, written by a civilian, will be perceived by the military.
As days go by, how did I get here?
As September, 2019, the manuscript about our Grandfather, his family and World War II is now over 30 chapters and 350+pages.
It was and is still a decadent, luxurious, and emotional journey to research and write this. But thank God I did it.
It has helped me get to know and love my grandparents, whom I never met, and whom my father lost at an early age. It made me realize we are not so far away from the wars over the past 200 years, who served in them, and the impact on society; countries, warriors, and civilians.
I discovered facts I never learned in school. It has left me in awe of our young country and the bravery in war.
It all makes sense now. God, how I wish we could have presented this to Dad before he died. Maybe my friend Stuart knew because when he prodded during his podcast interview, I teared up.
Maybe I am writing this for Dad.
So, this is why I took a break from blogging. Well, from a lot of things. There are days when all I want to do is work on this book. Crazy, right?
As I learned from my grandfather, you have to have a laser focus – with a tenacity of purpose – to reach your goals in life, and achieve the mission before you.
There is more work to do, yet one day soon, this manuscript will be published for my family, history, and the Marine Corps. Then we can finally get the record straight and fill in gaps for our generation and more.
Ahh, there is so much satisfaction in that.
Thank you for the inspiration, Don.
Semper Fi.
CarpoolDaze 