USMC Major Norman Hatch passes
Mick sends us a link to the sad news that Marine Corps Major Norman Hatch has passed at the age of 96. Hatch was the photographer for the documentary “With the Marines at Tarawa” which won an Oscar in 1945 for Best Documentary Short Subject. He also filmed “To the Shores of Iwo Jima” (1945).
ABC News named him their “Person of the Week” back in 2010;
As the filmmaker, this marine, a combat cameraman during the war, waded in right beside his comrades who were about to attack.
“When I was looking through the viewfinder, I was living in the movie,” he said. “I was disassociated from what was going on around me.”Even as he saw Marines get shot and fall to the ground beside him, Hatch made sure to document every second of the battle with his 16mm camera.
“You cannot take pictures laying down. Being a cameraman was like somewhat of being somebody with a target on your back,” Hatch said. “We were upright walking in, while everybody was down at helmet level in the water.”
Hatch retired from the USMC in 1981 after 41 years in the active and reserve forces. Every year, the United States Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Foundation gives out the “The Norman Hatch Combat Photography Award”.
Category: Politics
Rest In Peace, Brother.
Wow. He had 35 years or so of retirement after 41 years of service. His work we all have seen. Here’s a short interview from 10 years ago. Balls. Large.
RIP, Major.
We should all live so long and do as much.
Rest in peace, Major.
Here’s some good additional info on Major Hatch’s exploits: http://www.combatcamera.be/war-photographers-and-cameramen/norman-t-hatch/ ‘[…] On the eve of the Battle of Tarawa*, Norman was in a small boat, bobbing in the waves toward the tiny Pacific Ocean atoll, together with Marines of the 2nd Marine Division. The small island — with its airfield — was held by the Japanese, and it had to be captured before the Marines could move on toward Japan. * The Battle of Tarawa (US code name Operation Galvanic) was a battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II, largely fought from November 20 to November 23, 1943. It was the first American offensive in the critical central Pacific region. During the Battle of Tarawa, Norman (by then a Staff Sgt) and other USMC cameramen would cover the fighting from the moment US Marines landed until the end. What Norman Hatch remembers most of Tarawa was the overwhelming stench of the dead, and the thick black smoke. He had to change his shutter speed to adapt to the smoke — there were no automatic settings back then. More than 1,000 Marines died at Tarawa during the 76 hours of intense fighting. The Marines crept from bunker to bunker, while being under fire the whole time. They used flame throwers and grenades to force the Japanese out and into the open. “I was standing there,” Norman recalls, “photographing the Marines going to the top of that big sand blockhouse. Somebody said, ‘Here come the Japs!’ Two squads of Japanese came out — about 12 men. They were mowed down. I had the machine gunner right in front of me. It was the only time that the enemy and our forces were in the same frame.” Norman was filming all this under extraordinary conditions. He carried a pistol — he fired it just once. He would crouch in a bomb crater and turn his camera toward the action. It was a very dangerous situation, he says. After Tarawa had been taken from the Japanese, Norman Hatch’s film was transported to San Francisco and developed for newsreels. It was picked up… Read more »
Wow. The ballz that man had. Thanks Mick!
Back in the late 60’summer when I was stationed at Quantico in the hallway going into the base library there was a display case with info about Tarawa and the film and the”OSCAR” statue.
Dang spell check expanded ‘s into summer.
We lost a great one here. He showed America what our troops were going through. No sugar coating or chest beating, just the raw truth. God Bless Major, Semper Fidelis.
Rest in peace, sir.
Semper Fidelis Major Hatch.
God rest you well Major Hatch. I cannot imagine the courage it took to do what you did.
Waded into withering combat, upright and carrying only a camera and witnessed first hand the brutality of man. Brass ones on the Major.
RIP Sir, enjoy the eternal rest for you surely earned it.
RIP
I gained a great appreciation for our soldiers and marines who made all those amphibious assaults in WWII, in Vietnam in 1966, when my platoon had to wade across about 100 meters of chest and chin high water in a lake. The Viet Cong let us get well into the water before they took us under fire. The only upside was that by the time I reached the far shore, the piss and crap had washed out of my jungle fatigues.
I can’t imagine the cool and cojones it would take to film such an event.
Semper Fi, Major! RIP…
If you google his name you’ll find a lot of pics:
https://www.google.com/search?q=Norman+Hatch&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj429_mjsPTAhWnhFQKHa_aCmsQ_AUIDCgD&biw=1920&bih=916
The guy was not only a big, bad-ass looking Marine, he was movie-star handsome and probably a chick magnet.
The modern media doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as this man. Then again, neither did many media types in 1943.
It would not have been difficult to find him on the island. Just look for the drag marks from his massive stones. What a courageous man.