"Rupp's Skizzenbuch"

[Klaiber]

Outstanding work Geezer! Have you ever considered writing an original story and illustrating it the same way? I can see you publishing something like that.

[WWGeezer]

Luft....I thought about it a lot.  Rupp's goal was to survive the war, not to be a deserter or leave the country.  Turn of events took him very close to there. In the end it seemed more consistent to have him go home and heal like most of the other veterans.  

 

Klaiber....still thinking about it.  My wife's grandfather served in the Argylle and Sutherland Territorials in WW1 from the beginning to the end on the Western Front in the 7th battalion.  I have the regimental diary that lays out every battle he would have been in.  His name was William or Wully and he came home from the front with the a small dog ( have pictures of that).  Would love to trace his history thru the war and do something like what you described ( unfortunately more in the dirt than in the air). 

 

We visited Scotland and one place had a very small rooster that they affectionately referred to as "the wee man".....so I already have a working title with no idea what it is about

 

The Wartime Adventures of Wully and the Wee Man.

 

( PS....really appreciate you guys commenting along the way.

[-Hawkeye-]

It was just that in the beginning, I thought that the diary had been found in the USA (probably an incorrect assumption)....so I assumed he'd end up there one way or another.  However, that's an assumption in some way linked to the number of German people who immigrated to the USA after WWII; not sure how many actually did that after WWI.  It is always strange and interesting how the world works out.  Personally I am glad for the influx of other nationalities (to the extent that they came here to become a part of the USA, and not become a separate country unto themselves within US borders).  I think my own distant relatives showed up here right around the turn of the 20th century, before WWI.  What made them come over is unknown to me; it seems like a long way to go in those days, and a big chance to take.

 

As for your new, possible literary project: it can't go far wrong if it has a dog in it  

 

What could bring people together more?

 

S! and greatest thanks for your series, Geezer!!!

[WWGeezer]

No incorrect assumption.  The journal was found in the USA.  St. Augustine to be exact ( home of Jack Hunter).   

 

I sort of threaded the needle to get it there.  Rupp left the journal behind and someone else held on to it.  In real life Jack Hunter was bit of a spy and was in Germany during WWII.  In the first newspaper article Margaret Heinlein passed away and her daughter found the journal in her home.  She mentioned that her mom was born in Germany and worked for a trucking company.  She also said that she was moved to the US by the government in exchange for secret information.  Her family thought it was a joke, but it was not.  In the book "The Axmann Conspiracy"  Trucking companies where being used to try and keep the Nazi regime alive at the end of the war. Jack was trying to keep tabs on that activity.   A bit of a leap, but if she had the journal and she was an informant, than Jack Hunter would have seen it too.  

 

All that to get Jack's story woven into this story, and now that I described it, I am confused too!

 

Glad you enjoyed the series.

[-Hawkeye-]

Well, you got me to take a lot closer look at the Prologue!  I didn't realize that those articles were real....

 

The name "Heinlein" is very interesting of course....no relation, I suppose....but one likes to imagine   

 

Such intrigue, all from the beginning; but I missed it all.

 

Consider pointing more obviously for us stupid readers?  The plot turned out to be far thicker than I had thought.

 

Like a treasure being discovered!  Thanks for the explanation!!

[WWGeezer]

That's all folks.  Thanks for letting me share this project with you over the last year.

[WWGeezer]

Luft....I shamelessly used my great grandmothers name, Margaret Heinlein who lived to be 103.   No relation to the science fiction writer

[-Hawkeye-]

Luft....I shamelessly used my great grandmothers name, Margaret Heinlein who lived to be 103.   No relation to the science fiction writer

 

Ah! And, WOW!     And of course, THANK YOU for all of your hard work!   

[Klaiber]

Yes, thank you so much Geezer!  It's been wonderful reading this.

 

I think it's very fitting that you've come to the conclusion only a few days before the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.