In July 2026, a collection of family letters belonging to the Dupuy family was sold at a flea market in Sandwich, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The letters are believed to have been written by Trevor N. Dupuy and his wife and contain personal correspondence relating to the family, their travels and their lives in Asia. They were subsequently separated from the family, and my client has asked me to undertake a long-term search to try to locate them and bring them back to the family.
The fact that my client is prepared to continue searching for the letters over the long term says something about their importance. For descendants, recovering such material can mean recovering a tangible part of their own family history.
Trevor Nevitt Dupuy was a particularly remarkable member of the family. Born in Staten Island, New York, in 1916, he followed his father, the military historian R. Ernest Dupuy, into a lifelong fascination with military history. He graduated from West Point in 1938 and served as a United States Army officer, eventually attaining the rank of colonel. During the Second World War he commanded artillery units in Burma and served alongside American, Chinese and British forces. His wartime service earned him decorations from the United States, Britain and China.
After the war, Dupuy combined military service with an increasingly distinguished academic and research career. He taught at Harvard and Ohio State University and became a leading figure in the study of military history and combat analysis. He founded the Historical Evaluation and Research Organization (HERO) in 1962 and later established the Dupuy Institute. He wrote or co-wrote more than 50 books, including the influential Encyclopedia of Military History, which he produced with his father.
He died in Virginia in 1995, aged 79, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. (Wikipedia)
Against this background, the letters become particularly intriguing. They are not simply old family correspondence; they potentially provide a personal glimpse into the life of a man whose public career is extensively documented. The search therefore continues, not simply to find historic documents, but to return part of the Dupuy family’s story to those who value it most.
Leave a Reply