[Annotator's Note: The interview begins with Norman Hatch in conversation with the interviewer.] Hatch used to show movies on 16mm film when he worked at the Pentagon [Annotator's Note: the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, located in Washington D.C.]. He is the editor emeritus of the 2nd Marine Division's newsletter. He could write about whatever he thought was important. He opened up with the importance of oral histories. He did not want the guys to sit there and say they were just doing their jobs because there is nothing historical in that. He told him the children are the ones that do not know what they did. After that article was published, he went around quizzing people about oral histories. He had the Quantico [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Quantico in Quantico, Virginia] guys come up and set up a table to have the 2nd Division guys sign up to do an oral history. However, they only had four or five guys do it.

Norman Hatch graduated from high school in Gloucester, Massachusetts in 1938. The Depression [Annotator's Note: Great Depression; a global economic depression that lasted through the 1930s] was still going on and it was a difficult time to find work. He stayed in the Boston area [Annotator's Note: Boston, Massachusetts]. His father convinced him to join the Navy. He joined the Navy in 1938. They told him it would be three or four months before he was called. This soon turned into a year. He was told this happened because so many people had joined the Army and the Navy to have a roof over their heads and to have three meals a day. No one was coming out, which meant there were no vacancies. In June 1939, he walked out of the Navy office and into the Marine Corps office. The Marine Corps told him he could leave in two weeks if he joined. He was in the ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps] in high school, and this made boot camp seem easy to him. He learned to watch the bulletin board because that is where they posted what the unit would be doing. He was a sharpshooter in boot camp. He saw on the bulletin board that they were looking for an English instructor at the Marine Corps Institute in Washington [Annotator's Note: Washington, D.C.]. He applied for the English teaching job. He was transferred immediately to the Marine Corps Institute. He was the editor of the Leatherneck Magazine [Annotator's Note: also called Leatherneck, a publication for US Marines]. Later he transferred to the Navy Department. In September 1941, he was rejected for a job again. A lieutenant got him the opportunity to go tell his story, after that meeting, he got notice to be transferred to New York. He went up there for three months and stayed for six months to train the next class. He always liked photography. In high school, they had a photography club. He bought a camera for nine dollars and 95 cents. When the new 35mm cameras came out they would sneak up to a theatre in Boston and sneak pictures of movie stars. He thought motion pictures would be something great to do.

The Marine Corps did not have any photographic organization prior to 1940 [Annotator's Note: Norman Hatch had joined the US Navy in 1938 and then transferred to the US Marine Corps as an English teacher]. A captain on the west coast was asked by a movie technician what they would do about documenting the war. The captain wrote a letter to the major general commandant. In the letter, he wrote they would need film, and not to use the Army film anymore. They would also need to document combat. The commandant thought it was a great idea and ordered the captain to Washington [Annotator's Note: Washington, D.C.] to begin implementing the process. The captain had to hire people and plan what they were going to do. The captain needed to set up at Quantico [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Quantico in Quantico, Virginia]. When Hatch came out of the March of Time [Annotator's Note: an American newsreel series sponsored by Time Incorporated] in 1942, he worked with all the crews. They worked with the films. They carried the luggage of the cameramen. The cameramen were World War 1 veterans. Hatch latched on to an assistant cameraman who would answer all of Hatch's questions. When they were in Camp Lejeune [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina] doing a major film for the March of Time, they were filming the 2nd Division [Annotator's Note: 2nd Marine Division] getting ready for war. One time Hatch moved a camera, and he noticed the lens was dirty. They could not clean the lens because it would change the exposure for the rest of the scene. The March of Time had crews all around the world. They were very anti-Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler]. In Europe, when the Third Reich [Annotator's Note: term for the Nazi regime in Germany from 30 January 1933 to 8 May 1945] first came into power, they did not try to leave any of the news out. It got to a point where Hitler tried to get rid of them. Hitler had them as number ten on his list of people to eradicate when he got to New York. At the studio, they had four months of releases in the can. There were only a few of them trained in this manner. The March of Time started a thing with LIFE [Annotator's Note: an American general-interest magazine known for the quality of its photography; 1883 to 2007], where they had still cameramen going out to document things as well.

Norman Hatch was in New York at the March of Time [Annotator's Note: an American newsreel series sponsored by Time Incorporated] on Pearl Harbor day [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He had his alarm clock set to go off at ten in the morning. He was still half asleep when he heard about the attack. Hatch was the senior PFC [Annotator's Note: Private First Class]. He had to take a car down and help with the camera crews. He drove down to Washington [Annotator's Note: Washington, D.C.] because he knew his way around. He was told to wear his uniform because he would be up on the hill for the declaration of war. He was down on the platform when the president [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] drove up in his car. The president saluted him. The atmosphere was very serious. It had been over 20 years since the United States had had a war. Roosevelt was bringing the reservists in, and they were only allowed to wear their uniforms once a week so Congress would not be alarmed. He took the film back to New York [Annotator's Note: New York, New York] that night, and then he was shooting in Times Square [Annotator's Note: Times Square in New York, New York]. He knew he would be involved in the war. When he got to Quantico [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Quantico in Quantico, Virginia] they made training films. He told his wife to be he would be going overseas. He got orders to join the 2nd Marine Division and he was promoted to corporal that day. The next weekend he married his wife. This meant he was not there to get his gear ready. He had to ask a friend to get his gear and the camera gear ready. He went to Quantico to catch the train.

Norman Hatch joined the 2nd Division [Annotator's Note: 2nd Marine Division]. The 2nd Division did not have any previous motion picture experience. Hatch and his friend Johnny were the only ones with motion picture experience. The 2nd Division was up on a mesa above San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California] at Camp Elliot. The photo officer was a warrant officer that had little knowledge of photography. Hatch and Johnny [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling, no last name given] were put in a dark room to develop 3-D [Annotator's Note: three dimensional] pictures. They had been up to Hollywood [Annotator's Note: Hollywood, California] several times to get some more training. Hatch went to Technicolor [Annotator's Note: now Technicolor SA] for training because they had the first single roll of color film, it was called a mono pack. Technicolor wanted them to try the film in combat. He did not use it in combat. He used it when they did a landing in New Zealand. Hatch and Johnny discovered the two of them could not cover an entire unit of 20 thousand in combat. They did not know where they would stay in New Zealand for 11 months. They bought 16mm film from local Kodak [Annotator's Note: Eastman Kodak Company] shops, and they developed the film in Australia. This is how they trained half a dozen men in their photo section. They got the quartermasters' okay to scavenge Los Angeles [Annotator's Note: Los Angeles, California] for cameras. Hatch carried a 35mm camera along with all his other gear into combat. They also had 16mm cameras. This is what the color film was used on to shoot combat in Tarawa [Annotator's Note: Battle of Tarawa, 20 to 23 November 1943 at Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands]. This spurred the Marine Corps and everyone else to use 16mm color film. There were beaches in New Zealand, and they were able to go through training on the beaches. They built an obstacle course there that the men had to get through. The 2nd Division left in September 1942 and arrived in New Zealand in October 1942. It took a month to get there. They trained their new cameramen on 16mm black and white film. They had the film developed in Australia and were able to show them what they were doing wrong. When they shipped out for Tarawa, they had no idea where they were going until they were in the middle of the ocean. They had to be up on deck at five in the morning and they started to swing boats over the side of the ship. Battleships started firing their 14-inch shells. The Navy aircraft were dropping bombs. They thought they needed their entrenching equipment to dig graves for the Japanese and not for digging trenches. That was not the case.

Norman Hatch [Annotator's Note: a photographer in the 2nd Marine Division] was stationed in New Zealand. They portioned the men who were going to make the landings. They assigned the men two weeks before embarkation so that no one would be surprised to see a camera moving around. Hatch was in a group with a guy that did big things on Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands]. He was Major Jim Crowe [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Major, later Colonel, Henry "Jim" Pierson Crowe]. Crowe told Hatch he did not want a Hollywood [Annotator's Note: Hollywood, California] cameraman with him. Hatch had to explain he had been in the Marines for five years and had all the proper training. Major Crowe was going to be in the second or third wave. There was a Japanese machine gunner shooting at the amtracks [Annotator's Note: Amphibious Vehicle, Tracked (LVT), LVT-1 Alligator]. The amtracks were slowly making their way to the pier. Major Crowe thought he was going to lose his beachhead. Crowe ordered the coxswain [Annotator's Note: person in charge of a boat] to get his boat to the pier. The coxswain started forward and they hit a coral reef and they went to put the ramp down and it would not go down. The reef extended out from the beach about 400 yards. When Hatch went over the side of the boat the water was chest high. Hatch had an assistant cameraman, Kelly, with him. They had the camera equipment wrapped to be waterproof. Hatch told Kelly if he fell down and got the camera wet, he would kill him. The other men were dog paddling [Annotator's Note: rudimentary type of swimming] with only their helmets showing. Many of the men lost their rifles. When Hatch and Kelly made it to shore, they fell into a shell hole exhausted. When Hatch was in New Zealand, he was made Staff Sergeant in six months. They were doing something that was the first by doing this landing, and this was the first time it would be photographed.

Norman Hatch [Annotator's Note: a photographer in the 2nd Marine Division] was with Major Jim Crowe [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Major, later Colonel, Henry "Jim" Pierson Crowe] during the first landing on Tarawa [Annotator's Note: Battle of Tarawa, 20 to 23 November 1943 at Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands]. They were going to do the landing in three waves. The amtracks [Annotator's Note: Amphibious Vehicle, Tracked (LVT), LVT-1 Alligator] were up against the pier because there was a buried Japanese machine gunner firing at them. The shells were going right through the metal. Crowe saw his front being dissolved. He put his boat in immediately. The water was up to their chests when they got out of the amtrack. Hatch and Kelly had the camera equipment on their shoulders. The importance of Tarawa was evident in the briefing. This would be the first time they went against a heavily fortified area. Hatch was going to document the landing through photography so that people could see what they did and could study it. Hatch learned that Churchill [Annotator's Note: Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill; Prime Minister, United Kingdom, 1940 to 1945] had been watching their efforts. He was trying to convince Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States] to do a beach landing in France. When he saw they were successful in Tarawa he went to the generals and said if they could do it, we can do it. Once Hatch reached the beach, he had to check his equipment. Crowe was walking down the beach smoking a cigar with his handlebar mustache. He had to send an officer over to the pier to get the men to come out. Hatch and Kelly dug a hole for their gear with their backs against the seawall. Hatch had several wounded people lying around him. One man had his right buttock torn out and he was lying there in shock. This was Hatch's first experience with combat. Hatch stood up and started shooting [Annotator's Note: shooting film] the guys on the beach and the ones going up and over the seawall. He took photographs of the boats coming in and one was hit by a shell as the ramp opened up. The Japanese were using 8-inch guns and preventing the boats from making it to the beach. The Marines were fighting Marines. The Japanese ended up losing their leadership because tanks went through and obliterated it. The Japanese had their communication wires in the open on the sand and it had been destroyed from the 14-inch shells and bomb bursts. They lost all communication. The island was the largest one in the group. It was the headquarters for the native troops. It was a British protectorate until the Japanese moved in. The island was one-third the size of Central Park in New York [Annotator's Note: New York, New York]. There were six thousand men killed within 76 hours on such a small piece of land. This came as a shock to the public.

Norman Hatch [Annotator's Note: a photographer in the 2nd Marine Division] was on the airstrip on the second day [Annotator's Note: of the Battle of Tarawa, 20 to 23 November 1943 at Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands]. He thought it was important he was up there taking pictures. He had to be standing up to get good shots. He was not a target for the Japanese. He thinks they thought he was crazy walking around everywhere and that is why they left him alone. Some of the shells fired by the ships would hit the sand and be deflected. When they reached the airstrip there were several shells just lying there that had not gone off. There were two buildings. One building was made of concrete, logs, and sand and the other one was made of concrete. Major Jim Crowe [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Major, later Colonel, Henry “Jim” Pierson Crowe] said he was going to take one of the buildings and asked Hatch to come along. Hatch was in the same foxhole as Major Bill Chamberlain [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Major William C. Chamberlain]. Chamberlain got out of the foxhole and yelled charge. They all started toward the sand blockhouse. The Japanese were watching them approach. Hatch and the major were the only two that made it up there. Hatch asked the major where his rifle was, he had given it to someone who lost theirs in the water. The major had lost his pistol in the landing. Hatch told the major they better get out of there. Hatch did not take any pictures while they were up there. They got back in the foxhole and the major chewed the men out for not charging. Hatch is the only cameraman to have photographed a man doing what he was doing to earn the Medal of Honor [Annotator's Note: the Medal of Honor is the highest award a United States service member can receive have distinguished themselves by acts of valor]. Lieutenant Bonnyman [Annotator’s Note: US Marine Corps 1st Lieutenant Alexander "Sandy" Bonnyman Junior] had been divorced from his command. He fell into the area of the 2nd Battalion of the 8th Marines [Annotator's Note: 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division]. He led part of an assault and was killed at the top of a hill. Hatch caught it all on film. Hatch did not know Bonnyman at the time. During this same battle, Hatch caught on camera an American machine gunner firing on Japanese soldiers. This was the first time he caught both parties on film.

Norman Hatch [Annotator's Note: a photographer in the 2nd Marine Division] was on the airstrip on the second day [Annotator's Note: of the Battle of Tarawa, 20 to 23 November 1943 at Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands]. He thought it was important he was up there taking pictures. He had to be standing up to get good shots. He was not a target for the Japanese. He thinks they thought he was crazy walking around everywhere and that is why they left him alone. Some of the shells fired by the ships would hit the sand and be deflected. When they reached the airstrip there were several shells just lying there that had not gone off. There were two buildings. One building was made of concrete, logs, and sand and the other one was made of concrete. Major Jim Crowe [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Major, later Colonel, Henry "Jim" Pierson Crowe] said he was going to take one of the buildings and asked Hatch to come along. Hatch was in the same foxhole as Major Bill Chamberlain [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Major William C. Chamberlain]. Chamberlain got out of the foxhole and yelled charge. They all started toward the sand blockhouse. The Japanese were watching them approach. Hatch and the major were the only two that made it up there. Hatch asked the major where his rifle was, he had given it to someone who lost theirs in the water. The major had lost his pistol in the landing. Hatch told the major they better get out of there. Hatch did not take any pictures while they were up there. They got back in the foxhole and the major chewed the men out for not charging. Hatch is the only cameraman to have photographed a man doing what he was doing to earn the Medal of Honor [Annotator's Note: the Medal of Honor is the highest award a United States service member can receive have distinguished themselves by acts of valor]. Lieutenant Bonnyman [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps 1st Lieutenant Alexander "Sandy" Bonnyman Junior] had been divorced from his command. He fell into the area of the 2nd Battalion of the 8th Marines [Annotator's Note: 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division]. He led part of an assault and was killed at the top of a hill. Hatch caught it all on film. Hatch did not know Bonnyman at the time. During this same battle, Hatch caught on camera an American machine gunner firing on Japanese soldiers. This was the first time he caught both parties on film.

Norman Hatch [Annotator's Note: a photographer in the 2nd Marine Division] moved up to the next island because there were not enough ships to take the entire division [Annotator's Note: during the Battle of Tarawa, 20 to 23 November 1943 at Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands]. The natives gave them a nice hut and they fed the men. It was the first real food they had to eat. On Tarawa, they knew they were going to need water to drink. On Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] they filled five-gallon cans with water. They could still taste the gasoline fairly well. On the next island, they had good freshwater. They went swimming in the water. Then they got word there was room for them on the next ship. When they got to Iwo [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan] they were told they would have a camp set up. This was not the case. There were no tents up and there was no cooking area. The 16th Engineers [Annotator's Note: 16th Engineer Brigade] came in about 15 days later to help put the camp together. Hatch did not stay there very long. The head of public affairs, along with the photographers got orders to come into Washington [Annotator's Note: Washington, D.C.]. Hatch did not know if what he shot was good or bad. Hatch had a test kit to test his film and he did this test every night to make sure he had exposure. His wife was staying in an apartment in Washington. Housing was almost impossible to find. When he went back to the Pacific, they assigned him to the 5th Marine Division at Camp Pendleton [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, California]. Hatch was the only one in the photo group that had any combat experience. The photo officer was Major Dick Day [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Major Richard Day] who worked for 20th Century Fox [Annotator's Note: now 20th Century Studios]. The other guy was Captain Haven [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling] who was picked off and went to Washington. Hatch applied to be a Warrant officer while he was at Pendleton. Dick Day wanted to be sent back to Fox, he had started a camouflage school. This left Hatch as the photo officer. Lou Loft [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling], the Master Sergeant, had a still photo studio in town where he shot photos for weddings. Loft was in charge of training. By the time they got ready to go overseas, they went to Camp Tarawa [Annotator's Note: in Hawaii, Hawaii], and then they were ordered to go to Iwo [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan].

Norman Hatch [Annotator's Note: a photographer in the 5th Marine Division] stopped in Saipan [Annotator's Note: Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands] on the way to Iwo [Annotator's Note: [Annotator's Note: for the Battle of Iwo Jima, 19 February to 26 March 1945 at Iwo Jima, Japan] to pick up materials and new men. Hatch went on shore with Bob Sherrod [Annotator's Note: Robert Lee Sherrod, American journalist, editor, and writer]. The young officers there had to stay in their huts until they flew to Japan on a B-29 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber]. None of them had been in a combat situation before. Hatch and Sherrod went up to see them. The men did not want to do the mission because they felt it was a suicide mission. Curtis LeMay [Annotator's Note: General Curtis Emerson LeMay] was the head of the group and he was the toughest the Air Force had. Hatch thought it was interesting that these guys would not fly into Iwo or Japan, but they were going to go in with three Marine divisions to establish a beachhead just so they could land somewhere. The only place they could land was in the ocean. They had submarines there to pick up the downed crews. Iwo was supposed to save a lot of lives. Some 23 thousand Airmen were saved by landing on Iwo, but there were 21 thousand Marine casualties to make it happen. On Iwo, the Japanese had the idea to let them get on the beach and then annihilate them. Hatch was in the first wave onto the island. He shot some movies of the men walking and the boats landing. He had to have his assistant watch for the Japanese behind him while he looked out for them in front of them. He found a 50 caliber pit. He decided that would be their headquarters. He made sure his guys knew where he was. They had to come to check in with him every two days to turn in film and have the cameras checked out. He might get a casualty report because one of the men got injured. He did not know one of his men was killed until he left the island.

Norman Hatch [Annotator's Note: a photographer in the 5th Marine Division] was on Iwo Jima, Japan [Annotator's Note: during the Battle of Iwo Jima, 19 February to 26 March 1945 at Iwo Jima, Japan] where Mount Suribachi [Annotator's Note: highest point on Iwo Jima, Japan] was in the area of responsibility of the 5th Division. The 28th Regiment [Annotator's Note: 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division] had the responsibility to secure it. It was a good watch post for the Japanese. There was a destroyer blasting the side of the mountain. An investigative patrol went up the mountain first and they did not encounter any problems. They radioed back that it seemed to be clear. That is when the platoon headed up the mountain. The photographer from Leatherneck Magazine [Annotator's Note: also called Leatherneck, a publication for US Marines], Lou Lowry [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Captain Louis R. Lowery], saw the outfit going up and joined them. At the time they were up there they got a little Japanese resistance. Lowry jumped down to get out of the line of fire and one of his cameras got damaged. A commanding officer came to Hatch and told him they were going to raise a bigger flag on Mount Suribachi [Annotator's Note: United States flag raised on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, Japan, 23 February 1943], and he better have someone up there to cover it. Hatch asked why and was told the first flag was too small no one could see it. General Rocky [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Lieutenant General Keller Emrick Rockey] ordered it to be done. Bob Campbell [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Private Bob Campbell] had walked in, and Hatch told them there would be another flag-raising. Lieutenant Colonel Johnson [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Chandler W. Johnson] got word the Secretary of the Navy wanted the first flag to be a memento to take back to Washington [Annotator's Note: Washington, D.C.]. Rumor has it they brought the flag all the way from Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. Hatch worked for Forestall [Annotator's Note: James Vincent Forrestal; Secretary of the US Navy; first United States Secretary of Defense]. He was a very particular man and kept notes on everything. An LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] had been rummaging around at Pearl [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor] looking for a larger flag. They asked the supply officer and he found one for them that had previously been on a cruiser. When the lieutenant came down looking for a flag the LST gave the large flag to him. This flag was the second one raised on Iwo. Someone changed the picture from a horizontal to a vertical and that made the picture of the flag-raising. The picture hit all the newspapers in the United States on a Sunday. Bob Campbell shot pictures of the other guy taking pictures. His pictures show one flag coming down and the other going up. Hatch wrote a three-page paper on the flag-raising.

Norman Hatch [Annotator's Note: a photographer in the 5th Marine Division] felt that capturing combat on film was very important. The trooper was there and at the end of his day, his job was done. If someone is sent in harm's way to document what is happening, then that is what they should do. On Tarawa [Annotator's Note: during the Battle of Tarawa, 20 to 23 November 1943 at Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands], there were only five people that went on shore Bob Sherrod [Annotator's Note: Robert Lee Sherrod, American journalist, editor, and writer] and others who were there to shoot film. The wars today have the soldiers there trying to protect the place and fight. It is completely different from kicking in doors in Germany. There are men out there trying to document from the horn of Africa and over, but Hatch does not see the use in it anymore. The Pentagon [Annotator's Note: the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense] has not been good on keeping the public informed. The Public Affairs Department has gone downhill on getting the film out to the public. Hilary Brown [Annotator's Note: Hilary Brown, Canadian journalist] from ABC [Annotator's Note: American Broadcasting Corporation] has been in every combat engagement in the last 30 years. The reporters should be able to get all the stories good or bad.

Norman Hatch [Annotator's Note: a photographer in 5th Marine Division] had to be responsible for his 30 camera guys [Annotator's Note: during the Battle of Iwo Jima, 19 February to 26 March 1945 at Iwo Jima, Japan]. The only time he got out of the hole he got was looking for a guy who was killed. Hatch ended up by a tank that was ahead of the line. He went up on the runway once when they had it secured. The tower was a tent. Hatch was up there when the first plane landed. It was a B-29 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber]. He was the head of all Marine Corps photography at one time. He wrote letters and answered questions about photography. They told them how to build the sand up to make it look like Tarawa [Annotator's Note: Tarawa Atoll, Republic of Kiribati]. He had a couple of run-ins with the President [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States]. The first time was with his mother when he was a boy. The second time he had helped carry a painting up to the president. The third time he was a Marine in Georgia. He had to march post behind the president's quarters. The president gestured for him to come closer. They talked and he told the president he had met him two times before then. Two days later Hatch was in charge of turning out the guard when the president appears. The next time was in the capital building while taking a picture of him.

Norman Hatch [Annotator's Note: a photographer in the 5th Marine Division] wrote about his experiences to Leatherneck Magazine [Annotator's Note: also called Leatherneck, a publication for US Marines]. He could type and he went to work for the quartermaster. He ended up only working two hours a day. They had a stable there and he was able to go horseback riding. They were there for sick patients to ride. Most patients could not ride due to polio [Annotator's Note: poliomyelitis, an infectious disease that affects the central nervous system]. Hatch asked which horses needed to be exercised and he would ride those. Hatch was riding one of the horses at full gallop when coming around the corner was Mrs. Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: wife of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] and her secretary. Hatch attempted to stop the horse. Mrs. Roosevelt and her secretary both ended up in the ditch. Hatch checked on them. Two and a half years later, when he was in New Zealand, Mrs. Roosevelt came down to see her husband. Hatch was taking their pictures. Mrs. Roosevelt motioned for him to come over and asked him if he still liked to ride fast horses. Hatch told her he owned a horse and rode it every week.

Norman Hatch [Annotator's Note: a photographer in the US Marine Corps] served in World War 2. He was on active duty in the Marine Corps from July 1939 to September 1946. Hatch made a film in black and white showing how the amphibious landings changed from World War 1 to World War 2. They showed how far the aircraft could fly and where they could or could not land. The film ended up being 18 or 19 minutes long. They showed it to everyone downtown and up on the hill [Annotator's Note: in Washington, D.C.]. The film was a big part of what caused them to keep the Marine Corps. The film is called "Bombs Over Tokyo." [Annotator's Note: Hatch attempts to get his DVD player to work.] Hatch shows his footage of Tarawa [Annotator's Note: during the Battle of Tarawa, 20 to 23 November 1943 at Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands]. The footage is a black and white film. He points out a point in combat when he ran out of film. 20th Century Fox [Annotator's Note: now 20th Century Studios] put the newsreel together right after the battle. A week after the battle, Hatch flew from Hawaii into San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California]. He was in the States about 15 days total after the battle.

Norman Hatch [Annotator's Note: a photographer in the US Marine Corps] shows the footage of "Marines at Tarawa" [Annotator's Note: "With the Marines at Tarawa", short documentary film produced in 1944] that he took during World War 2. He explains the different shots he took. A destroyer sends messages over a rope to the other ship. They did not trust electronic messages. The briefings were good. He captured the men test-firing guns and doing their usual drilling. Many of the men did not make it [Annotator's Note: back from the war]. The ships gave some heavy firing as they went into the beach. The boats were not the first wave. Hatch went in on a boat. The first three waves were on amphibious tractors. Some of the kids were jittery with their cameras. The landing was postponed for an hour because the boats were too close and were taking on enemy fire. The smell on the island was intense because of the number of dead bodies. The stretcher carriers are unsung heroes. The sounds were sharp. A lot of the Japanese killed themselves on the island. The 6th [Annotator's Note: 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division] was in reserve, but they were needed. The 6th was finally let in, and they saved the day. Hatch picked up a Japanese Red Cross bag to keep his film in. They buried the Japanese. They used Japanese equipment to fix the airstrip. They [Annotator's Note: the Americans] raised a flag on every island they were on. Hatch was on the island for 40 days and then the Army came in.

Norman Hatch [Annotator's Note: a photographer in the US Marine Corps] feels some of the films about World War 2 are not great. There was not a lot of press on the island [Annotator's Note: during the Battle of Tarawa, 20 to 23 November 1943 at Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands]. Admiral Nimitz [Annotator's Note: US Navy Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Sr., Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet] wanted the troops to be helpful to the press because he thought they needed the press as much as the press needed them. Hatch keeps close to what the press is doing. He was disgusted when he learned there was a media producer who had three men in a National Guard unit film their time in Iraq [Annotator's Note: "The War Tapes", a 2006 American war documentary]. The footage was made into a 90-minute film for the Tribeca Film Festival [Annotator's Note: annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions] and it won. Hatch checked to see if the men had the film checked and they did not. The only men who should have cameras in a combat zone should be the official film crews. There were restrictions in World War 2, Korea [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953], and Vietnam [Annotator's Note: Vietnam War, or Second Indochina War, 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975], but now they are not being reinforced.