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The Last Round Up

$15.00

An edited transcript of the 1999 James Jones Literary Society Symposium features preeminent voices of the World War II literary generation honoring James Jones (1921-1977), author of "From Here to Eternity," "The Thin Red Line" and "Some Came Running," among other titles. Sharing insights and personal anecdotes are Budd Shulberg, Joseph Heller, Betty Comden, Norman Mailer, WIlliam Styron and Peter Matthiessen.

An edited transcript of the 1999 James Jones Literary Society Symposium features preeminent voices of the World War II literary generation honoring James Jones (1921-1977), author of "From Here to Eternity," "The Thin Red Line" and "Some Came Running," among other titles. Sharing insights and personal anecdotes are Budd Shulberg, Joseph Heller, Betty Comden, Norman Mailer, WIlliam Styron and Peter Matthiessen.

"Geil Evans Butler has captured the chaos and joy that comes from moving around the world and building a life in a different country. But what is special here is the country, Japan—less than 10 years after WWII—where Geil, her daughter Bonnie and husband Bill move to Tokyo and begin the daunting task of building a life. Butler is candid about her fears, her homesickness and the plain brutal truth that she was halfway around the world with a 10-year-old daughter. She doesn't pull many punches and we are left to wonder how she coped."

— Rodney J. Ley, Fort Collins, CO

About the Author: Geil Evans Butler

Geil Evans Butler was born in 1920 and raised on a farm near Rantoul, Ill. When her family returned to the central Illinois area from Japan, she later worked as a legal secretary for 19 years and owned an arts and crafts shop in Rantoul called Rainbow's End before retiring in March 1989.

In 1999, she was an Illinois recipient of the Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award for her role in helping to preserve the history of Rantoul, increasing public awareness through her local newspaper columns and working with the Rantoul Historical Society. The Rantoul Area Chamber of Commerce presented Butler with the 2000 Marvin Remmers Volunteer of the Year Award.

Read an Excerpt

If I'd only known how to swim, I'd have jumped overboard. But I lay there, cuddling my little daughter, Bonnie, to keep her from being thrown to the floor, sorely aware of where I was each time I was rolled against the bunk railing as our ship tossed and turned. 

It was November 24, 1954. We were aboard the U.S.N.S. General M.M. Patrick, a military transport ship converted for conveying about 700 servicemen's dependents and 300 Army GIs across the Pacific Ocean. I hadn't been so naive as to expect a government-sponsored voyage to be as glamorous as those touted in travel folders. But neither had I expected the first day at sea to be so physically cruel. 

The day had started at dawn. After a sleepless night of worrying about how to survive aboard ship for two weeks without any underwear of other essential clothing, I got an early start to try to find someone who would help me locate and return our missing laundry. About thirty minutes before we were to check out, the laundry arrived. There was more than I could pack in my remaining empty luggage, so I had to make a quick trip to the PX and buy another bag.