William Earl Tatom

Captain William Tatom served as the skipper of Item Company, 2nd Marines during the Tarawa campaign.

Tatom was an experienced officer with long service in I/3/2. In August 1942, as a second lieutenant, he led the company’s 2 Platoon in an amphibious assault on Tanambogo in the Solomon Islands. Despite a painful shrapnel wound, Tatom continued leading his men in difficult combat until he collapsed from pain; he was later awarded the Silver Star Medal for gallantry. He took command of the company in the summer of 1943, and was popular with officers and men alike.

On 20 November 1943, Captain Tatom’s battalion was assigned the task of spearheading the assault on Betio’s Beach Red One – a curved stretch of sand running several hundred yards from the “bird’s beak” in the west to Red Two in the east. Tatom’s Item Company was on the right flank, aiming to land on the “beak” itself. The captain gave his men a pep talk, addressing them like a football team. “Captain Tatom gathered us around and talked to us as a team going into a big game,” commented Robert Johnsmiller of I/3/2. “He was a great leader.”

The natural shape of the beach created a crossfire for the defenders, and the area became known as “the Pocket.” Slow-moving landing craft were quickly targeted from multiple angles, and many were knocked out as they approached the shore. Hundreds of men were killed or wounded before stepping foot on dry land. Those who survived faced a network of obstacles manned by determined Japanese defenders, and the fighting was close-in and savage.

Captain Tatom rode to shore in the third wave – and, naturally, was very worried about his men in the first and second waves. Disregarding the heavy fire coming from the beach, he stood up to look over the cab of his LVT. It was a fatal decision. “Captain Tatom never gave an order,” said Ed Downing (I/3/2). “As he stood up to get out of the [LVT] a bullet got him in the head.”

“He had been standing for only a moment when he fell backward onto the troop deck,” said another veteran. “He just sort of grunted when he was hit. He’d taken a bullet directly in his forehead. He was dead before he hit the deck.”