Chief Warrant Officer 4 Juan Arce and his daughters, from left, Soledad, Camila and Alyssa, pose at the 2023 Marine Corps Ball in Wilmington, N.C. (Juan Arce)
A mental health counselor for military families was so inspired by a single Marine’s love and care for his three children that she wrote a book about it.
“My Dad Is a Marine: Home Is Where My Hero Lives,” self-published by author Sacra Magdalia Durandisse in December, is based on the real-life experiences of Chief Warrant Officer 4 Juan Arce and his daughters Soledad, Camila and Alyssa.
“It’s not the first time that you hear about a single parent, but his situation to me was a bit unique,” Durandisse said in a March 27 video interview. “They get to see the Marine, but they don’t get to see the sensitive side in how he loves his children, his daughters, and that resonated with me.”
The book is written for ages 3 to 11 and depicts everyday moments, such as school drop-offs and family trips, while also addressing the emotional strain deployments can place on children.
Chief Warrant Officer 4 Juan Arce and children’s book author Sacra Magdalia Durandisse pose in an undated photograph. (Sacra Durandisse)
“I’m proud of really what the book is about, what it stands for,” said Durandisse, who plans to use proceeds from the first 50,000 copies to create a scholarship fund for single-parent military families.
Arce, a quality assurance officer with Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 14 at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina, is scheduled to retire next year.
“I’m grateful for the recognition, but this isn’t just my story,” he said by email Monday. “It represents the experience of single parents in uniform who are raising their children while serving. If it resonates with even one person navigating that path, then it’s worth it.”
Arce said he enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2003 as an airframe mechanic. He got married in 2005 and divorced in 2013 after returning from a deployment.
“I maintained 50% custody,” he said in an April 6 video interview. “When I ended up going to Japan, I asked if I could get the kids for a year for the experience.”
Arce later won primary custody of his two oldest daughters and said he wanted them to experience living overseas.
“My Dad Is a Marine: Home Is Where My Hero Lives” is based on the real-life experiences of Chief Warrant Officer 4 Juan Arce and his daughters Soledad, Camila and Alyssa. (Sacra Magdalia Durandisse)
Durandisse said she met Arce in 2022 while he was assigned to Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152 at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan. She was working as a military and family life counselor.
“Officer Arce has all these thingies on his uniform. I don’t know what they mean, but when he’s talking about it, he goes on and on and on,” Durandisse said. “But here’s the thing. When he talks about the girls, the pride in that is like that’s his biggest accomplishment.”
Military life is often depicted in movies and television, but few children’s books focus on the subject.
“I read it with my youngest and she loved it,” Arce said. “We could see the stories, and I was very excited that she was excited.”
His favorite part about being a father, he said, is passing on things he wished he knew when he was young.
“Teaching them lessons, from driving to cooking, to just being able to teach them early on to be self-sufficient,” he said.
