South Pacific World War II Veteran

Kieth Hitchcock is a World War II veteran who served in the 2nd Division of the 17th Aircraft Artillery Battalion for the Marine Corps. He was deployed in the South Pacific on an island called Tarawa, lying near the ecuador halfway between the Hawaiian islands and Australia. After arriving on the strategically located island of Tarawa, Hitchcock says the Japanese would bomb every night and sometimes twice a day. Hitchcock said many of the soldiers, including himself, were deployed for three years away from home with little means of contacting through censored letters. A contrast to today, after nearly three years away at war there was no welcoming party or people lining the streets when he arrived back in Saginaw, he said.