Hometown: Stamps, AR
Branch: U.S. Marine Corps
Unit: Company I, 3rd Marine Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division
Military Honors: Silver Star, Purple Heart
Date of Sacrifice: November 20, 1943 - KIA in the Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands, Kiribati
Age: 27
Conflict: World War II, 1939-1945

Born on January 8, 1916, William Earl Tatom grew up in the small town of Stamps, Arkansas, graduating with honors from Stamps High School. He completed a bachelor’s degree program at Henderson State Teachers College in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, where he was a football star and captain of the team.

Tatom stayed in his home state after graduating from college, as a high school teacher and football coach. He served as an assistant coach at Helena High School, and head coach at Tyronza High School.

Americans were shocked on December 7, 1941, when Imperial Japan attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Like many young men, William Tatom made the decision to leave the comforts of home to defend his country. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve a month later, on January 31, 1942.

With the United States officially declaring war on Japan and Germany, Tatom was sent to the Pacific Theater. Serving as a USMC Chaplain, he was assigned to Company I, 3rd Marine Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division.

It didn’t take long for then 2nd Lieutenant Tatom to see combat and to demonstrate bravery under fire. Amphibious assaults on Tulagi, Tanambogo, and Gavutu in the southern Solomon Islands marked the first U.S. ground offensive of World War II (1939-1945).

From August 7-9, 1942, then 2nd Lieutenant Tatom’s Marine battalion landed at Tanambogo as part of the invasion force to remove the Japanese. During the invasion, Tatom suffered a serious shrapnel wound to his right thigh but continued fighting on. His courage would earn him the Silver Star. The citation reads:

The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Second Lieutenant William E. Tatom (MCSN: 0-8920), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while attached to the Third Battalion, Second Marines, Reinforced in action against enemy Japanese forces during the invasion of Tanambogo, Solomon Islands on August 7-9, 1942. Although he sustained a painful wound while participating in a precarious landing, Second Lieutenant Tatom continued the execution of his essential duties, courageously disregarding his own serious condition. With resoluteness of purpose he directed his men in combat and fought with them against the enemy until he collapsed from pain and suffering. His tenacious determination and relentless fighting spirit maintained under difficult and hazardous circumstances contributed immeasurably to the success of our forces on Tanambogo Island and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

After the ferocious fighting at Tanambogo, Tatom was promoted to the rank of Captain, assigned to desk duty and sent to New Zealand to recover.

In New Zealand, preparations were underway for Operation Galvanic—an Allied plan for 18,000 Marines to attack the Japanese on the heavily fortified Tarawa Atoll, in the Gilbert islands. The operation included U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and an enormous supply fleet—all supporting 18,000 invading Marines.

Captain William Earl Tatom volunteered to be part of the mission. The Battle of Tarawa began on November 20, 1943 and lasted three days. Resistance from the well-entrenched Japanese defenses was much heavier than anticipated, and the high cost of the Allied victory was difficult news for the American public. More than 1,000 Marines and sailors were killed and more than 2,000 wounded.

On the first day of the Battle of Tarawa, Capt. Tatom was killed instantly during the amphibious landing. In a personal letter to Tatom’s sisters, 1st Lt. S.C. Turner—who was under Capt. Tatom’s command—described Tatom’s last moments:

Earl was killed Nov. 20 when he was getting out of his landing boat on the beach of Tarawa (Gilbert Islands). I wasn’t 20 yards from him at the time but didn’t know until five minutes later. I talked to the corpsman who attended him. There was no suffering. He was killed instantly, never getting to say a word. His death was caused by enemy machine gun fire. I knew Earl as a Christian man. This helps a great deal, I think. Don’t you? I send my deepest sympathies to you and Earl’s friends. We all miss him terribly.

Adding to his family’s grief, Capt. Tatom’s body was never recovered from the tiny island. Following the battle, many of the U.S. casualties were buried for later retrieval to be returned home, with 103 marked as “unknown.” Despite the ongoing efforts of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), Tatom was officially listed as “Unrecoverable, Missing in Action.”

Captain William Earl Tatom is memorialized at Court 4 in the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial, National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Sources
Details and card photo submitted by Ms. Kathryn Coe, Capt. Tatom’s great-niece.
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency: Capt. William Earl Tatom
Honor States: William Earl Tatom
NBC Affiliate KARK, Little Rock, Arkansas—The Lost Boys: Captain William Earl Tatum, the Arkansas hero who never made it home
Marines - Together We Served: Tatom, William Earl, Capt.
Honor States, Hall of Valor Project: William E. Tatom
History.com: Battle of Tarawa
Burial Site: Find a Grave (Memorial)