Charles William Tatum (23 July 1926 – 22 June 2014)
from th
5th Marine Division website
Retrieved 15 April 2014. was an American

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that has ...

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

recipient,

race car driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

and builder. On 19 February 1945, he was among the first wave of marines to land on the Japanese island stronghold of

Iwo Jima Iwo Jima (, also ), known in Japan as , is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands and lies south of the Bonin Islands. Together with other islands, they form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The highest point of Iwo Jima is Mount Suribachi at high. ...

. He was a friend of

John Basilone John Basilone (November 4, 1916 – February 19, 1945) was a United States Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant who received the Medal of Honor for actions during the Battle for Henderson Field in the Guadalcanal campaign, and the Navy Cross posthumou ...

. Tatum's war

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobi ...

, ''Red Blood, Black Sand'', was one of five books used as source material for the

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

and

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

produced

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

miniseries ''

The Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

''. Tatum is portrayed in the series by actor

Ben Esler Ben Esler (born 1982) is an Australian actor and screenwriter, best known for playing Sean McGinnes in the AMC television series ''Hell on Wheels'', as well as for his role as war hero Chuck Tatum in HBO's '' The Pacific''. Esler is a writer ...

Biography

Military service

Tatum enlisted in the

U.S. Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through comb ...

when he was 17. He became a

machine gunner A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...

and was sent to the newly activated

5th Marine Division The 5th Marine Division was a United States Marine Corps ground combat division which was activated on 11 November 1943 (officially activated on 21 January 1944) at Camp Pendleton, California during World War II. The 5th Division saw its first ...

Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton is the major West Coast base of the United States Marine Corps and is one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the United States. It is on the Southern California coast in San Diego County and is bordered by Oc ...

, California in 1944. There he became acquainted during training (and on Iwo Jima) with

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...

recipient, Gunnery Sergeant

("Manila John"), a machine gun section leader who was killed in action the first day on Iwo Jima and awarded the

Navy Cross The Navy Cross is the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps' second-highest military decoration awarded for sailors and marines who distinguish themselves for extraordinary heroism in combat with an armed enemy force. The medal is eq ...

posthumously. Tatum was sent for further training with the 5th Division at

Camp Tarawa Camp Tarawa was a training camp located on Hawaiʻi Island constructed and used by the 2nd Marine Division during World War II. The grounds of the camp were situated between the volcanic peak of Mauna Kea and Kohala mountain. Marines were sen ...

near

Hilo, Hawaii Hilo () is a census-designated place (CDP) and the largest settlement in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States, which encompasses the Island of Hawaii. The population was 44,186 according to the 2020 census. It is the fourth-largest settlement i ...

, which was preparing for the assault and capture of Iwo Jima. He was a member of Baker ("B") Company, 1st Battalion,

27th Marine Regiment The 27th Marine Regiment (27th Marines) is an inactivated infantry regiment of the United States Marine Corps. They fought during the battle of Iwo Jima in World War II and again for a short time during the Vietnam War. Subordinate units The reg ...

. On 19 February 1945 (

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

), his battalion (Landing Team 1-27) disembarked and landed on "Red Beach 2", on the southeast side of Iwo Jima, off of landing boats from the

attack transport Attack transport is a United States Navy ship classification for a variant of ocean-going troopship adapted to transporting invasion forces ashore. Unlike standard troopships – often drafted from the merchant fleet – that rely on ...

, , with orders to, "land, seize, and occupy Iwo Jima" ("Island X"). Tatum landed with the Marine infantry and their attached Navy medical

corpsmen A hospital corpsman (HM r corpsman is an enlisted medical specialist of the United States Navy, who may also serve in a U.S. Marine Corps unit. The corresponding rating within the United States Coast Guard is health services technician (HS) ...

in LVTs (amtracs; amphibian tractors) from LST #10 that they had boarded 11 February when the USS Hansford stopped at

Saipan Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States in the western Pa ...

. "Red Beach 2", a 550-yard

landing zone In military terminology a landing zone (LZ) is an area where aircraft can land. In the United States military, a landing zone is the actual point where aircraft, especially helicopters, land (equivalent to the commonwealth landing point.) In ...

, was about 800 yards across from '' Motoyama Airfield #1'', which in turn was 1,500 yards north of

Mount Suribachi is a -high mountain on the southwest end of Iwo Jima in the northwest Pacific Ocean under the administration of Ogasawara Subprefecture, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. The mountain's name derives from its shape, resembling a ''suribachi'' or grindin ...

on the south end of Iwo Jima. "Red Beach 2" was one of the seven color named and numbered landing zones that combined were two miles long on the east side of Iwo Jima. Tatum was awarded the

Bronze Star Medal The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

with

"V" device A "V" device is a metal capital letter "V" with serifs which, when worn on certain decorations awarded by the United States Armed Forces, distinguishes an award for heroism or valor in combat instead of for meritorious service or achievement. ...

for saving a buddy, Steve Evanson, during fighting at Hill 362 on Iwo Jima (Evanson nevertheless died the next day). Tatum was subsequently wounded in action and evacuated from the island.

Career

Tatum became a successful

race car Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organi ...

driver and builder after the war. His son, Blake Tatum, drove a ''Crusader'' that was manufactured by his father's company to become the ''1994 Formula Vee West Coast Regional Champion''. Tatum was active in Marine affairs and was twice the president of the ''Stockton Marine Corps'' ''Club'' in California. In 1995, he arranged a

memorial service A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima. Tatum's book, ''Red Blood, Black Sand'', first printed in 1995, is one of the five books used as a basis for the television mini-series ''

''; Tatum is portrayed by actor

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tatum, Charles Chuck 1926 births 2014 deaths United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II Battle of Iwo Jima Sportspeople from Tulsa, Oklahoma Sportspeople from Stockton, California United States Marines Writers from Tulsa, Oklahoma