War Shots

Staff Sgt. John F. Ercole behind Wahl 35 mm sound camera in New Zealand. 2nd Marine Division Photo Officer Capt. William A. Halpern is on on right, with Private Bill Kelliher, who would become Hatch's able assistant cameraman at Tarawa, smiling in the back.

After the Bomb. Nagasaki was in ruins when the 2nd Marine Division arrived in late 1945. The only buildings left standing had reinforced concrete.

During occupation of Nagasaki, Japan, 2nd Division Marines prepare to destroy big gun.

Enemy tanks seized by Marines during late 1945 occupation of Japan.

With his wavy hair and sideburns, Hatch (circa 1970) kept changing with the times as a civilian leading the Audio Visual Division of the Pentagon's Directorate of Defense Information.

Marines hugging shore of Betio Island, D-Day, Nov. 20, 1943. An outhouse on stilts over the water (left) was Japan's lone sanitation facility at Tarawa.

Hatch (foreground) on the beach at Betio sits against log seawall as he clasps film canisters.

Sgt. Hatch with 35-mm Bell Howell Eyemo filming training in New Zealand.

Marines carry wounded comrade to safety over the sea wall amid the carnage of D-Day at Tarawa.

Marine riflemen of the 6th Regiment wade ashore at Betio's Green Beach on third day of battle. The division reserves would soon be tested in fierce, hand-to-hand battle when the Japanese counterattacked under the cover of nightfall.

The Japanese used British-made Vickers eight-inch rifles to pick off the Marines' Higgins boats and amtracs. These weapons were purchased by the Japanese during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, but it would be nearly four decades before they would be used in combat against the invading Americans.

Hatch, always a sucker for animals, pours water for a kitten he heard mewing under an abandoned Japanese tank.

Dapper Staff Sergeant. This portrait shot was taken right before Hatch shipped out of New Zealand for his first combat at Tarawa.

Warrant Officer John "Pappy" Leopold, assistant photo officer of the 2nd Marine Division, off-loading equipment from a Higgins boat to Staff Sgt. Carlos P. Steele.

One foot at a time. Marines crawling on sand at Betio, moving inland. The coconut trees were splintered by American naval bombardment.

Bloody baptism. Marines hold weapons high as they wade ashore at Tarawa. Higgins boats and amtracs ferry in men facing fierce enemy resistance.

Detritus and dead. A damaged amtrac dangles over the coconut seawall as corpses float nearby.

Eye of the Battle. Hatch (center) stands tall with his Eyemo filming the attack on the Japanese blockhouse. Note the periscope (uphill, right of Hatch) that gave the enemy a view of attacking Marines.

The blockhouse attack continues as Marines swarm Japanese. Hatch (mid-hill, right) returns from shooting what may be the only motion picture footage capturing the enemy and Americans in fighting stances in same frames of film.

The 2nd Marine Division Photo Section hamming it up: 1st row (left to right) S/Sgt Carlos P. Steele; Pfc. Jack E. Ely; Pfc. Fermen Dixon; S/Sgt. John F. Ercole; Cpl. Obie E. Newcomb; Sgt. Ernest J. Diet. 2nd row: Cpl. Christopher Demo; Sgt. Forest A. Owens; Pfc. James Orton; Cpl. Raymond A. Matjasic. 3rd row: S/Sgt. Roy Olund; Capt. Louis Hayward; Warrant Officer John Leopold; S/Sgt. Norman T. Hatch (Hatch's assistant, Pfc. William Kelliher, was among five Marines not pictured).

Dark Humor. One spelling-challenged wag posted a skull with the caption, "Tarawa Recrutin Office"

A more mature Warrant Officer Hatch.

At Camp Pendleton in late 1944, before leaving for Hawaii, Hatch peers into viewfinder of Bell & Howell Eyemo Model Q.

Warrant Officer Hatch behind a Bell & Howell Eyemo Model Q at Camp Tarawa at Hilo, Hawaii in December, 1944. Hatch was photo officer of the Fifth Marine Division completing training to attack Japanese at Iwo Jima.

Pfc. Bob Campbell (left) shot still photos while Staff Sgt. Bill Genaust filmed the second flag raising at Iwo Jima. The photos and film helped chronicle the controversial sequence of events atop Mount Suribachi. Genaust later was shot and killed in a cave; his remains were never found.

Nurse tends to wounded Marines in New Zealand.

Joe Rosenthal's iconic photograph of the second flag raising at Iwo Jima.

Boxes of blood marked in supply shed at Iwo Jima. Sadly, the Marines shed a warehouse's worth of blood to wrest the critical island away from a tough, intractable foe.

Before Joe Rosenthal made it to the mountaintop, Tech Sergeant Lou Lowery of Leatherneck, Magazine of the Marines, shot this picture of the first flag raising. A Marine keeps a lookout in the foreground, while (background) Marines work hard to plant a flagpole into rock-hard summit.

In a cave at Iwo Jima, two Corpsmen treat Marines wounded in battle.

Hatch in New Zealand checking his Second Division photographers during practice amphibious landing.

Another view of Joe Rosenthal's iconic photograph of the second flag raising at Iwo Jima -- this wasn't cropped and shows debris left by Japanese atop Mt. Suribachi. The debris was cropped out of Rosenthal's photo, creating a cleaner, vertical image of the historic scene.

Marines take down first flag raised over Suribachi while behind them another group holds pole for replacement flag. Photo by Pfc. Robert Campbell.

Hatch (left) on Iwo Jima with elbows on a D-2 (intelligence) box talking to 1st Lt. Herbert Schlosberg, photo officer of the Fourth Marine Division.

As the Japanese rain artillery and mortar fire down from Mount Suribachi, a lone Marine ducks for cover.

Warrant Office Obie Newcombe (left) beside Hatch in the Fifth Marine Division photo section's command post at Iwo Jima. Newcombe was Hatch's assistant photo officer.

Marine flamethrowers torch blockhouse on Iwo Jima.

After the landing at Iwo Jima, Feb. 19, 1945, the Marines dig in for cover. The Navy armada can be seen offshore of "Sulphur Island."

Staying warm on Iwo's cold, rocky ground.

Hi Folks! Joe Rosenthal (foreground) takes posed shot of Marines on Mount Suribachi -- a standard wire photo for the folks back home. This picture brought together the two groups of Marines who raised the flags to signal early American success against the Japanese. But the battle for Iwo Jima would rage on for weeks.

Joe Rosenthal's close-up on Marines celebrating after the second flag raising. The mix of photos -- some staged and some unstaged -- would create confusion over the AP photographer's body of work at Iwo Jima.

Combat engineer with flamethrower, dashes across Iwo's rocky ground -- hazardous duty since the charged canisters would blow up if struck by an enemy bullet.

Joe Rosenthal (left) takes a break with Marine combat cameraman Pfc Bob Campbell.