The Allies' outlook looked grim after Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Gen. William Rupertus knew how to help turn events around — but it wouldn't be easy.
Talk about an uphill battle. Just from Pearl Harbor alone, thousands died and multiple ships of the U.S. fleet sunk. And Japan's Imperial military then conquered much of Asia and the Pacific. American forces were captured or driven out of the Philippines in May 1942, beginning the infamous Bataan Death March.
General Rupertus (1889-1945), though, saw a way leadership could find a turning point on the ground.
String Together Wins
Rupertus knew he needed a victory to turn America's fortunes around. And it started with his post as assistant commander of the 1st Marine Division, on Tulagi, an island 20 miles off Guadalcanal. Rupertus advanced in a grueling campaign. Tropical rain and heat and deadly diseases made the task tougher.
But Rupertus knew victory begot victory. So, he led his soldiers to three more vital wins at Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester and Peleliu. This marked the beginning of the end of the expansion of Japan's empire.
"My grandfather believed in being well-prepared and getting details right, cared deeply about his men, and was able to spot talent, which served him well as he became the longest-serving commander of the 1st Marine Division," said Amy Rupertus-Peacock, co-author with Don Brown of "Old Breed General: How Marine Corps General William H. Rupertus Broke the Back of the Japanese in World War II from Guadalcanal to Peleliu."
Learn Resilience Like William Rupertus
Even Rupertus' rise through the military's ranks tested his strength. He found a way to stand out despite multiple setbacks.
Born in Washington, D.C., Rupertus began his military career right after high school. He first served in the National Guard from 1907 to 1910. Rupertus graduated second in his class in 1913 at the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service (an early version of the Coast Guard). But he failed the physical exam. Why? He suffered from Bright's disease (kidney failure). Doctors told him at age 23, he would die by age 28.
But Rupertus soon learned to find a specialty — allowing him to rise above his physical limitations. His excellent marksmanship prompted the Marine Corps to recruit him. And he graduated first in his class of 1915. During World War I, he commanded a detachment of Marines aboard the USS Florida. And for three years, he trained the police in Haiti.
Share Your Talents With Others
Rupertus returned to the Marine's headquarters to oversee target practice training. He then commanded Marines in California, Cuba and Washington, D.C. His obsession with marksmanship endured. After Pearl Harbor, he wrote the Marine creed, "My Rifle," which begins, "This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life."
By focusing on what he could control — marksmanship — Rupertus managed through more difficult times.
His first assignment to China came in 1929. His first wife and two children died, though, of scarlet fever in Beijing in 1930. Overcoming his grief, he remarried. But yet more horrors arose. When he was assigned as a battalion commander of the 4th Marines to Shanghai in 1938, they witnessed Japan's violence. America didn't intervene then. But the experience gave Rupertus the emotional preparation to take on Japan when he helped form the 1st Marine Division and became assistant commander in March 1942.
Rupertus: Surprise Your Competitors With Innovation
Rupertus knew victory so far away from home required an element of surprise.
Imperial Japan's military aimed to build a strategically important airfield on the Solomon Islands, southeast of New Guinea. To try expel it, the Marines first had take a nearby island, Tulagi. That housed a large natural harbor for seaplanes. It was also surrounded by coral on three sides. And Japan had fortified the southeastern beach that was the obvious place for the Americans to land.
"Like America's greatest generals, Rupertus was an audacious combat leader, committed to offensive warfare and embracing an element of surprise," the authors wrote. "He decided play a high-risk game of poker by having his men wade through a hundred yards of water walking across the coral to reach the western beach and press through the jungle to take the enemy by surprise."
The fighting in the jungle was intense and at close quarters, especially at night. But Rupertus' forces secured the island after a few days on Aug. 9. That marked the U.S.' first land victory in the war. Rupertus received the Navy Cross in recognition of his leadership and heroism.
Communicate Is the Key To Effective Leadership
Rupertus knew when to step up in a void of leadership. But he also kept others abreast of his actions. When his boss, Major General Alexander Vandegrift, departed his post, Rupertus directed the response by his 11,000 Marines to Japan's attacks on Guadalcanal's Henderson Field in October.
He communicated up and down the chain of command to keep everyone informed. And Rupertus also listened to those on the front line. He took note of serious hardships like a lack of food and supplies as well as a severe strain of dysentery. Rupertus himself contracted dengue fever.
But he kept pushing. Case in point: the American victory in the Battle of Henderson Field on Oct. 25. It was the turning point in Pacific War, starting the process of pushing Japan back.
In July 1943, he was promoted to commander of the 1st Marine Division.
Persevere When Facing Unexpected Obstacles
Rupertus believed in the power of momentum in war. But he also knew the worst was yet to come.
On New Britain, a 350-mile long, jungle-covered volcanic island, the 1st Marines were tasked to take the Cape Gloucester airfields at the western end. This was the first step toward Japan's naval base at Rabaul on the eastern end. When they arrived in December 1943, a monsoon hit. Nearly everyone suffered from malaria, scrub typhus or other diseases. Supplies seemed impossible to deliver due to the deep terrain until Rupertus bought the Army's tiny Piper Cubs. Imperial Japan capitulated in February 1944.
Be Patient Amid Adversity
The island of Peleliu in the Mariana and Palau campaign nearly killed Rupertus' winning streak. Poor high-level troop decisions, a lack of knowledge about its terrain and Japan's plan of defense stung The Allies' effort there.
The leaders of the U.S. forces assumed, based on recent experience, it would only take a few days to win. But they relied on inaccurate maps of the terrain. Japan also learned from their earlier defeats. Its 11,000 soldiers constructed a system of 500 fortified bunkers in the limestone mountains connected by passages. American bombing did little damage.
The Marines landed on Sept. 15 and every step of the way into the interior was contested. On Nov. 27 when Peleliu was deemed secure, U.S. forces expended massive amounts of ammunition, resulting in scores of casualties. Some critics later questioned whether the victory was worth the cost. But this was not Rupertus' decision.
"He had a tenacity of purpose and laser focus that allowed him to get through setbacks so that what did not kill him made him stronger," said Rupertus-Peacock. "Sometimes this may have made him appear tough and insensitive, but those who knew him saw his dedication, perseverance, smarts, humor, optimism and humility."
In November 1944, Rupertus was named commandant of the Marine Corps Schools at Quantico, Va. But he wouldn't live to see the end of the war — he died of a heart attack the next March. His efforts, though, made The Allies' difficult win possible.
General William Rupertus' Keys
- Commander of the First Marine Division during the first defeats of Japan's Imperial Army in World War II.
- Overcame: Well-fortified enemies willing to fight to the death in tropical jungles and coral islands.
- Lesson: "What counts in war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count."
