We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joseph Tachovsky a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Joseph, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The project is the story of the 6th Marine Regiment’s “40 Thieves” and their role in the WWII Battle of Saipan.

Like most men of his era my father rarely discussed World War II. The exception to that rule was when he looked at old photographs. There was a magazine clipping of him with another USS Maryland football player captioned “Fleet Stars” with “Goofy Guthrie” handwritten underneath. Dad would point at the other player and say, “He died on Wake.”
Otherwise, if the topic of Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, or Tinian ever came up, it would end any conversation.

Due to a eulogy delivered at my father’s funeral, I was prompted to open his USMC footlocker and discovered a trove of documentation and memorabilia that led me on a journey collecting the oral histories of the Marines with whom he served. That journey began in November 2011 and continues today, and beyond.

It is Kismet that the discovery, preservation, and presentation of their oral histories would have gone to the graves of the 40 men in the platoon if that specific eulogy had not been delivered.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

When you graduate with degrees in English Literature, Theatre Arts and Art History, it perfectly qualifies you for a life in the hospitality trade….BUT what was learned years ago finally proved useful in “40 Thieves on Saipan.”

It is rewarding when others find worth in your work. PBS featured the 40 Thieves in an episode, and that episode won an Emmy Award.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I first started soliciting agents for the initial version of 40 Thieves, all agents were interested in the premise of this early band of Special Operations Marines, sort of grandfathers of Navy Seals. 40 Marines who were trained to live and work behind enemy lines for days and weeks as a time, mapping enemy installations and wreaking havoc.

At first, the story of the 40 Thieves was presented as an oral history, following a linear timeline. When the agents received the oral history version, they lost interest. “Write is as a narrative” was their advice.

I was flummoxed.

After a few failed attempts, I was at a loss. AND, you only have one shot at an agent. If you don’t impress initially, you don’t get a second opportunity. It was on a flight to Japan with one of the Thieves, Marvin Strombo, when the epiphany hit. It was remembering the mantra of a high school creative writing teacher, our writing had to be “plausible, believable, knowable and life-like with a you-are-thereness quality.” (The phrase was memorable due to his speech impediment). That’s when it hit me….put flesh on the bones of their stories….paint the picture with words. While driving around the country, from Georgia to Arizona, visiting these men I listened to Old Time Radio to help the process, and become familiar with vernacular of the 40’s.

After nine years of flailing about, it took just a few months to “paint the picture.” And this version had an agent and a publisher within a week.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

PTSD was not current in WWII, men had to “get over it.”

The horrors of war have not changed, and the majority of the royalties from sales of the book are donated to organizations that help our veterans. One of my father’s frequent refrains was “We don’t do enough to help our veterans.” I would be a sad-sack of a son if I didn’t honor that comment.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.40thievessaipan.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/40thievesonsaipan/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/40ThievesSaipan
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-tachovsky-88185614/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@josephtachovsky2820

Image Credits

All images are from my collection