History echoes in the events of today. Pirate attacks and recent battles in Libya are newsmakers now, the events reminiscent of the Barbary Coast Wars in the early 1800s.

One of the heroes of the First Barbary War is the subject of a new book, “O’Bannon: Lieutenant Presley Neville O’Bannon, USMC Hero of the War with Barbary Pirates in Tripoli,” written by Oak Harbor resident Trudy Sundberg.

“That’s what we’re involved in today — piracy, politics and power, then and now,” Sundberg said. “My son, Kris, prompted me to write this. He said, ‘Mom, you wrote about Presley Neville O’Bannon 30 years ago, and look what’s happening in North Africa; the pirates are doing it again. It’s the same thing that happened when Thomas Jefferson was our president.’”

So Sundberg got to work, dusting off her first edition of the book on O’Bannon, spending three years researching and refining what she’d previously written. The former schoolteacher is no stranger to writing, having coauthored other books on academic subjects. This was, however, her first military book, even though she is familiar with military life. Her late husband, Capt. John Sundberg, had a distinguished career in the Navy, serving as commander of two squadrons on Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, with additional tours of duty in Washington, D.C. and serving as a military attache at the Hague, the Netherlands.

New and improved

While Sundberg’s first book had the basic facts, it contained  a lot of genealogy. The new edition is a full-color book filled with paintings depicting the events of the battle as well as photographs of O’Bannon’s birthplace and his sword, the model upon which current Marine officers’ swords are based. Still, there are challenges in researching someone who lived 200 years ago. For that, Sundberg relied upon her research assistant and former student, Kathy Hardesty.

“I had done a lot with the original book, but she knew how to write the letters to the research librarians,” Sundberg said, adding the process just takes time. “Number one, they’re very busy; number two, many are underpaid; and number three, usually you have to keep phoning or writing letters to explain what it is you’d like to have. But I have the utmost respect for librarians, particularly research librarians.”

Even with all the help from various libraries, Sundberg said she was surprised at how little information was available about her subject.

“I honestly don’t know if there’s another book about O’Bannon. He’s mentioned in a lot of books, but I’m guessing this is the only book about him,” she said. “Here’s this little guy, unknown, signs up for the Marines. He took this assignment and went over there and just became a hero. He’s the first man to raise the American flag in victory on foreign soil. This is what he’s known for in the Marines.”

O’Bannon has been somewhat overshadowed in history by Gen. William Eaton, who, as Sundberg tells it, was no general at all.

“The reason my book is on O’Bannon is there are a lot of books on Eaton. He’s the make-believe general,” she explained. “He just named himself a general. He had a lot of influence and chutzpah and self confidence and he’d go to the president and the senators and say ‘We’ve got to stop this.’ So he persuaded them to do this, then when he got over there the funds were limited and he was in terrible shape. But he was brilliant and very aggressive. A lot of people didn’t like him, but he liked O’Bannon and O’Bannon liked him.”

Current events

Sundberg hopes recent events will make people more interested in her book.

“Before this recent turmoil, anybody I talked to didn’t know where (the Barbary Coast) was,” she said. “Very few people realize that the area I’m talking about involves Algeria, Tunisia, Tripoli. All this warfare now makes this book quite current.

“And you know what? Almost everybody I talk to, they never even heard about the Barbary Coast,” Sundberg continued. “They never even heard about Thomas Jefferson there. They never knew that we paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to these bad guys to get our guys out.”

Speaking about her subject with great enthusiasm, Sundberg said she hopes her book can gain the attention of folks on Whidbey Island, especially the active duty Marines stationed at NAS Whidbey.

“I want to emphasize mostly Marines because they know him, they like him, they would love to have this book on their coffee table,” she said with a smile.

Hello Hollywood?

There’s even been some talk of a movie. There is a 1942 film called “To the Shores of Tripoli,” but the Hollywood rumor mills have been abuzz for several years about a historical epic called “Tripoli.”

“There’s been gossip that Ridley Scott is going to do it and I hope he does, then my book would sell like mad,” Sundberg said.

The book is currently available for purchase from Sundberg. The cost is $20 and those interested should contact her by emailing tjsun@whidbey.net.

Sundberg said she has no plans for another book at this time, preferring instead to take a little time off first.

“I’m focusing on Whidbey Island and the Marines and the Navy here and then I’ll focus on some of those projects,” she said.

All in all, Sundberg is thrilled with the way her second edition of the O’Bannon story has turned out and thinks there’s something a little magical about her subject.

“Presley O’Bannon was born in 1776,” she said. “Now, don’t you believe in predestination? I think that adds a little magic touch to the whole thing.”

O’Bannon and the Navy

Three ships of the United States Navy have been named USS O’Bannon, after  early Marine Corps hero Presley O’Bannon (1784–1850):