American Valor Quarterly Issue 10 - Summer 2013 | Page 31

With the Marines at Tarawa
The WWII Story of a Marine &
Combat Cinematographer
By Norman T. Hatch
In 1938, seventeen-year-old high
school graduate Norman T. Hatch of
Boston made the decision to join the
pre-war military. The military – the
Navy in particular – seemed to be the
obvious choice because every ship
resembled a small city, where someone could learn a trade and get a job
when they came out of the service,
while having a roof over their head
and enough money to send home.
After passing all the physical, mental, and home study exams, all that
was left was to wait, as the Navy estimated it would be a month or so
before he could enlist.
After six months passed, Hatch
stopped by the Navy office to ask
when he could enlist, but there was
no clear answer. He was told that
enlistments were slowing down, so to
make a bit of money he and a friend
bought a second-hand Ford dump
truck and sold loam all across the
Boston area.
Before he knew it, a year had passed.
Hatch again stopped by the Navy office, and was given the same answer.
On a whim, Hatch decided to stop
by the Marine recruitment office next
door to the Navy office, where he
asked a sergeant, “If I decide I want
to become a Marine, how long will it
take before you take me?”
The sergeant quickly replied, “Do you
want to leave Friday or two weeks
from Friday?”

In this photo, Lt. Alexander Bonnyman, Jr. (denoted by a faint arrow, 4th man from the
right), leads an assault party on a Japanese stronghold. While the attack was a success, Lt.
Bonnyman would