Oral History Interview with Norman Hatch, May 3, 1993

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Norman Hatch. Hatch was born in Boston in 1921. Following graduation from high school in 1939, he joined the Marine Corps. He volunteered for an English instructor billet at the Marine Corps Institute in Washington, DC. After six months he left for an editorial position at Leatherneck Magazine. Soon thereafter, he took a position at the Office of Information in the Office of Naval Operations, where he assisted in putting out press releases. In September 1941 he was accepted to the March of Time School of Pictorial Journalism operated by a major newsreel company in New York City. He recalls photographing President Roosevelt from the Capitol Gallery on 8 September 1941 as he asked Congress for a declaration of war. In 1942 Hatch was sent to Quantico, Virginia to join the newly-formed Marine Corps Photographic Section. From there, he joined the Second Marine Division in New Zealand. He was one of only two movie photographers assigned to the Second Division, and he describes being at Tarawa. Hatch describes the events that took place over the next three days, many of which were featured in his film With the Marines at Tarawa, which won the 1945 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject. Hatch also recounts his involvement in the Battle of Iwo Jima, where he met Joseph Rosenthal