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Cpl Betty S. Hatch Oral History
Publication date: 30 July 2024
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title:
Cpl Betty S. Hatch Oral History
creator:
Hatch, Betty (Steineker) (1921 August 6 - )
subject:
Marine Corps Women's Reserve
description:
Betty S. Hatch (formerly Steineker) was born on August 6, 1921 in Gerald, Missouri and was the oldest of three. She graduated from a high school in Union, Missouri in 1939 and attended a small Methodist College for one year to teach at a one room country school, which she thought was the only career available to her. She taught and attended summer classes until she enlisted in 1944. Her parents had a neighbor who was a Marine recruiter and gave her information on the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve, and she decided to enlist with the support of her parents. She got to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina for basic training in May 1944. After finishing basic training, she was disappointed to be assigned as a mail clerk at Camp Lejeune rather than being sent to a Marine Corps base in California. She received more specific advanced training for this position and grew to enjoy it. She worked in every part of the post office, and her hours and workload varied based on how busy the base was on any given day. She stayed in this position until her discharge in May 1946 and briefly returned home before moving to California with her aunt. Once out there, she used the GI Bill to attend UCLA, majoring in English and taking an extra year of class to get her elementary teacher’s certification in 1949 along with her bachelors degree in 1948. She then began teaching in Santa Monica, California, which she did for 33 years. She married another UCLA grad a year into her teaching career, and didn’t stop teaching when they had children together. When she left the service Hatch had reached the rank of corporal, and for her service she was awarded an American Campaign Medal and World War II Victory Medal. No transcript of this interview is currently available.
publisher:
Military Women's Memorial Foundation
contributor:
Bellafaire, Judy
date:
2003-05-14
type:
Audio
format:
Cassette
identifier:
406; 2003.406
source:
CLIR - Recordings at Risk
language:
English
relation:
221191
coverage:
World War II (1939-1945) | 1944-46
rights:
Unrestricted