World War II Honoree

Robert James Hatch

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Woods Cross, Utah

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Private First Class. Inducted into the United States Marine Corps February 11, 1942 at Salt Lake City, Utah, with recruit training assigned to the First Recruit Battalion Training Regiment; Marine Corps Base San Diego, California. Upon his graduation from Boot Camp, he was transferred to Camp Pendleton Oceanside, California for combat training. Served as a Machine Gunner assigned to Dog Company, First Battalion, Sixth Marine Regiment and Second Marine Division Location: Central Pacific Theater of Operations. His division participated in the amphibious assault against the Imperial Japanese forces in the Battle of Tarawa. The combat engagement took place on the Island of Betio Location: Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands Code Name: Operation Galvanic. Reported missing in action or buried at sea November 22, 1943 on the third day of the invasion. In remembrance of the brave, his name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at Honolulu Memorial Location: Honolulu, Hawaii. In June of 2015 the history flight, a private organization, discovered a collective burial grave on Betio Island. The remains were transferred to the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency laboratory in Honolulu where he was identified. The family of this Marine requested that he be buried with Military Honors at Bountiful Memorial Park Cemetery Bountiful, Utah on December 14, 2019. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.