History Matters
As I dive back into my original manuscript in hopes to publish it, I am once again in awe of my grandfather’s perseverance over his lifetime, and what he witnessed in Washington, DC and in the world … which I was never taught about in school.
If you have read or not read Old Breed General, here is a summary of why it matters TODAY.
The fact that his story wasn’t told until Old Breed General was published in 2022, really highlights how many important WWII stories need to be discovered and told for the record. They can guide us.
Today, as I read the headlines of what is happening around the world, and China’s advance in the Pacific …I see starkly clear similarities to the build up to WWII …that I have studied for the last seven years while resarching our grandfather.
Tis’ interesting as I began this blog post today, I received this article from the Washington Post. I’ve been following this Chinese military activity for years. Have you? https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2024/china-built-50-billion-military-stronghold-south-china-sea/
It is concerning. I am sure our grandfather would agree. Oh, how I wish I could talk to him.
Washington, DC
Our grandfather, General Rupertus, was born, raised and died in Washington, DC (1889-1945). He grew up in a close German American community that thrived in Washington, DC in the mid 1800s-mid 1900s. If you go to DC now, you can find remnants of these innovative German Americans.
He attended church at the Concordia Evangelical Church that still does a service in German each month!
He also witnessed the industry of entrepreneurs like Christian Heurich, whose brewery, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Heurich_Brewing_Company ,was the largest in Washington DC back then, and employed countless German-Americans while supporting the German community’s charitable causes, including the German orphanage, where Rupertus grandmother and mother served as leaders.
He saw the brilliance of compatriots like August Gottlieb Schönborn, whose design of the United States Capitol dome reached skyward like the aspirations of Americans. And, his grandfather, father, and uncle were entrepreneurs in the retail, real estate and restaurant arena.
Many of these Germans are buried at the old German Prospect Hill Cemetery. https://www.prospecthillcemetery.org
In the bustling halls of McKinley Technical High School in Washington, DC, his military journey began in the ROTC program. His path would wind through three branches of service, face personal tragedy, and ultimately lead to his becoming one of the Marine Corps’ most influential leaders.
From Cadet to Marine Corps Officer
After graduating high school, he enlisted in the DC National Guard and within three years, he was promoted to an officer. Something or someone inspired him to apply to be a cadet at the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service Academy, which he did in 1910.
Do you know the history of the Revenue Cutters Service Academy? The historical evolution from the Revenue Cutter Service to the U.S. Coast Guard is such an interesting part of American maritime history.
Created in 1790 under Alexander Hamilton as the Revenue-Marine, the Revenue Cutter Service was America’s first armed naval force after America’s independence. When it merged with the Life-Saving Service in 1915, it became the modern Coast Guard we know today.
The Revenue Cutter Academy (now the Coast Guard Academy) was training officer candidates where Rupertus’s exceptional intelligence and dedication were evident in his continued mastery of multiple languages and academic excellence. Each summer they would go on a cruise to see the world. He took many pictures of these cruises between 1910-1913 we have in his albums.
He graduated second in his class of fourteen in 1913 with his future brother in law, Frank Gorman, Elmer “Archie” Stone, who became Coast Guard Aviation Pioneer #1, and Carl Christian Von Paulsen, who also became a significant figure in early Coast Guard aviation.
But, upon getting his final medical exam to become an Revenue Cutter officer, his promising career was seemingly cut short by a diagnosis of Bright’s Disease, with doctors predicting he had just five years to live.
Shaken but not stirred.
Undaunted, Rupertus set his sights on the Marine Corps, headquarterd in Washington, DC.
Armed with several strong letters of recommendation we discovered in his file at the National Archives, he presented himself to the Marine Corps Examining Board. He was accepted to officer candidate school, and his laser determination paid off – in 1915, he graduated first in his Marine Officers School class alongside future generals Henry L. Larson, Keller E. Rockey, and Allen H. Turnage. (Henry Larson also became my father’s Godfather in 1939).
What followed was a distinguished career spanning three decades. His service included the Marine Corps Rifle Team, duty aboard USS Florida, Haiti, Cuba, San Diego, Marine Corps Barracks, but a significant chapter of his life occurred during two tours in China.
The China Marines
As a commanding officer of the 4th Marines (China Marines), http://chinamarine.org who guarded the American sector of the Peking Legation (1929-1931), he endured personal tragedy with the loss of his first family to Scarlet Fever (who are all buried below his grave at Arlington National Cemetery).
The Battle of Shanghai
Then, he returned to Shanghai, China in 1937 with his second wife, our grandmother Sleepy (Alice Hill Rupertus), as a commanding officer of the 4th Marines protecting the American sector of the Shanghai International Settlement.
Its is here where they witnessed firsthand Japanese aggression when they attacked Shanghai August, 1937, and throughout the Battle of Shanghai that lasted through November 1937. In August, our grandmother and Marine and Navy wives were evacuated to the Philippines. They did not return until December, 1937. About the same time the Japanese began their infamous attack on Nanking, and attacked the USS Panay and Standard Oil tankers who were evacuating civilians.
The China Marines: A fascinating part of Marine Corps history
Our grandfather and the 4th Marines (aka China Marines) who guarded the American sectors of the Shanghai International Settlement, and international settlements “aka legations” around China, represents a unique period of American presence in Asia that many are unaware of. From protecting American interests and citizens, to witnessing the rising tensions with Japan, these Marines had a front-row seat to a violent history unfolding that would last until August 1945.
Yet, in Shanghai, they were told to hold fire by the highest echelon – despite the bombing, violence, executions, stray gun fire and taunting they witnessed.
Hold fire.
When I discovered this history, and as I write it now, my heart rate rises. Every single time.
I sense the frustration my grandfather and the Marines must have felt – being ordered to hold fire while witnessing atrocities and protecting refugees flooding into the Settlement – surely influenced their later wartime leadership.
Attack on Pearl Harbor
When Pearl Harbor finally came, they’d already seen what the Japanese military was capable of four years earlier.
My Rifle the Creed of a United States Marine
In March 1942, shortly after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, as CO of the Marine Barracks San Diego, Rupertus penned “My Rifle: The Creed of a United States Marine” – words that would become immortalized in Marine Corps history and recited by every Marine since.
WWII Pacific Theater
These experiences in China would prove crucial when he later commanded the 1st Marine Division in the Pacific Theater during World War II, leading Marines through brutal campaigns against the Japanese from Tulagi and Guadalcanal to Cape Gloucester and Peleliu.
Major General Rupertus lived until March 25, 1945, defying his early medical prognosis by four decades. It’s incredible that he and the Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen served through the grueling conditions of the Pacific campaigns. I imagine the stress of commanding the division through four island campaigns would have been enormous.
Home
When he came home in 1944, he looked years older than when he left for war in 1942. And, he only had four months with Sleepy and my dad before he died in 1945 (at a party of 1stMarDiv veterans at the Marine Barracks in Washington, DC).
Legacy
His legacy lives on not only in the Rifle Creed but in the traditions and spirit of the Marine Corps he helped shape during pivotal moments in American military history. From that determined young cadet who refused to accept medical limitations, to the general who led Marines in combat, his story embodies the perseverance and warrior spirit of the Corps.
Thanks goodness I (and those that helped me) https://www.amyrupertuspeacock.com/acknowledgements/ had the passion, energy, time and grit to chase history.
It was 100% worth it.
Get your family story down for the record. Now, before it is too late.
In closing, God bless those who fought so bravely in WWI and WWII to those who continue to protect us today.
S/F
PS. God, I pray for smart leaders, who know this history – so they can keep us out of war.
