Major Norman Hatch WWII Combat Photographer Guadalcanal Iwo Jima, Tarawa SIGNED For Sale

Thissale is for the following RARE Major Norman Hatch (Deceased) WWII USMCdaring photographer who filmed much of the combat footage autographed cut thathas been mated with an unsigned 4x6 inch photograph the black mat is 8x10inches.

ThisMajor Norman Hatch (Deceased) cut autograph has been authenticated by the mostprestigious and respected authentication company in the hobby JSA #AG75896.Autographed items that have been authenticated by JSA adds an additional valueto all signed items that bare the JSA authentication process. This item wouldmake a great gift or investment.

BIO:Major Norman Hatch (Deceased) WWII USMC daring photographer who filmed much ofthe combat footage during the Battle of Guadalcanal, Battle of Iwo Jima andBattle of Tarawa. His footage was later used in the Academy Award winning documentaryfilm “With the Marines at Tarawa”. Major Hatch Hatch used a Bell & HowellEyemo to film the invasion and the ensuing combat.Mr. Hatch assigned his colleague Bill Genaust to film the Marines’ flag-raising atop Mount Suribachi. A small flag had been installed, but a larger one was ordered to be placed on the island’s highest point. Mr. Genaust’s footage was used to confirm that the historic photograph of the flag-raising, by Joe Rosenthal of The Associated Press, had not been staged. Mr. Genaust was killed in action a week later.

MajorHatch’s cinematographer whose footage of a punishing American victory in thePacific during World War II was so grisly that it had required White Houseapproval before it could be released.

Armedwith a .45 caliber pistol, Staff Sergeant Hatch, 22 years old at the time,waded ashore on tiny Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands in November 1943 atthe beginning of a 76-hour battle that would claim the lives of an estimated1,000 Marines and sailors and more than 4,000 Japanese soldiers. When thefighting ended, the United States had claimed one of its first victories in thePacific. Standing up to keep his hand-cranked 35-milimeter Bell & HowellEyemo camera dry, and filming through thick black smoke, Sergeant Hatch thrusthimself so deeply into the combat that he captured vivid close-ups of Marinesfiring at enemy troops only 15 yards away.

“That’sthe only time, to the best of my knowledge, in the Pacific War that the enemywas in the same frame as us in a fighting stance,” he said in an interview withthe Naval Institute. “The film shot on Tarawa was a first because it showedwhat combat was really like. It showed it up close and dirty.” Somehow, heescaped the war unscathed, having fired his pistol only once. “When I waslooking through the viewfinder, I was living in the movie,” he said. “I wasdisassociated with what was going on around me.”

Yearslater, after he had long left the service, Mr. Hatch recalled that PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt had been reluctant to release gruesome images of deadMarines floating in the waters off Tarawa, but that the journalist RobertSherrod had convinced him that bringing the grim battle home would rally Americansbehind the war. It had been Mr. Hatch’s choice to risk his life to get thoseimages. “I was told by guys on the front line that I didn’t have to be there,and I would quietly tell them that I did,” Mr. Hatch told NPR in 2010. “Thepublic had to know what we were doing, and this was the only way they wouldfind out.” A month before the Oscars, which Mr. Hatch did not attend, he hadlanded with fellow Marines on Iwo Jima; his footage there was incorporated inanother documentary, “To the Shores of Iwo Jima.”

THISIS AN AUTHENTIC HAND AUTOGRAPHED CUT that was been mated with an unsigned 5x7inch photograph perfect for framing. The black mat measures 8x10 inches. I ONLYSELL AUTHENTIC HAND AUTOGRAPHED MEMORABILIA. I do not sell reprints orfacsimile autographs. When you offer on my items you get the real deal authentichand autographed items. You will receive the same item that is pictured in thescan. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me. I combine S&H whenmultiple items are purchased. I ship items internationally the price forinternational S&H varies by country. I currently have other rareautographed military and historical signed items available. Please take a lookat my other sales of rare military and historical autographed items.