War Shots book features combat cameramen in WWII

War Shots: Norm Hatch and the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Cameramen of World War II (Hardcover)

A book by Charles Jones is finally available and features the story of how military photographers got their shots while storming beaches and assaulting pillboxes with combat troops. It also describes how long time member Norm Hatch filmed With the Marines at Tarawa, which won the 1944 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject and was Person of the Week on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer in March 2010. There are new details on the controversy surrounding the famous photo of the flag raising on Iwo Jima. It should interest the fans of “Flags of Our Fathers,” “Letters from Iwo Jima,” and HBO’s “The Pacific”

Jones, a former staff writer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, has also written “Boys of `67,” which the New York Post called “riveting and entertaining” and which won the Military Writers Society of America’s Gold Medal for Best Biography, and “Red, White, or Yellow?,” for which he embedded with a military unit in Iraq.

By Robert G. McEwen “Jarhead Grandpa” — I have known of the great work of Norm Hatch for many years. He was the right man in the right place at the right time…and he still is. I worked most of my USMC career with writers/photographers and eventually for a “Mr” Norm Hatch (Major, USMCR, Retired) in DoD audio-visual news for about 18 months before retiring for civilian life. I especially admire the way Jones and he handle the great responsibilities explained in the book: with humility despite tremendous responsibility by a then-young, relatively inexperienced sergeant in his first combat. Strongly recommend this great book to everyone who appreciates American History.

By Jack T. Paxton, Executive Director, USMCCCA — While the sub-title might imply this is a work about one person, it really isn’t. Norman Hatch is a Marine Corps icon – at 91 he personifies Marine Corps photo history because he lived it and certainly helped develop it. The book, however, does much more than deify Hatch.

As he did so well in his “Boys of ’67” Charles Jones chronicles the early life and adventures of a group of Marines, this time Norman Hatch and his band of photographers. As Norm emerges as one of the best cinematographers to cover World War II for the Marine Corps, War Shots may well emerge as one of the most definitive histories of military photography at war and the men behind the cameras who risked their lives to make sure the American public knew what was going on. Fortunately for us, Jones and Hatch teamed up while Norm is still alive.

As many of us did in our youth, Norm used the Marine Corps as a means to an end. As the Great Depression wound down, he made the decision to go into the Navy. When Navy recruiters dragged their heels an impatient Norm became a Marine. An early assignment with now defunct the March of Time shaped his future. From then on, as he says, “I was in the right place at the right time.” From this point on we see the Pacific battles through Norm’s Eymo lens.

Not only is this a comprehensive history of the use of motion and still picture photography in a combat environment, but the book offers today’s warriors a glimpse of tactical development circa 1930-40 and the leadership that made the Marine Corps what it is today. War Shots introduces modern-day Marines to the legends of the Corps; “Howlin Mad” Smith, John A. Lejeune, Victor “Brute” Krulak, “Red Mike” Eddson, Julian Smith and many others.

Jones is painstaking in his research and those of us “buffs” of history can appreciate sources he uses throughout. From a personal standpoint we have always credited former boss, Bem Frank with being one of the best when it came to the history of our Marine combat correspondents. Like Frank, Jones refers often to the beginning of modern day Marine public relations and of our early development as “CCs” under Brig. Gen. Robert L. Denig.

Having known and served under many of those so named as well as being a friend of Norm makes War Shots an even better read. He is a great resource and even greater supporter of our United States Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association.