#15. Bataan, Hollywood, & Europe: The Unique WW2 Journey of Nurse Eunice Hatchitt

Listen to the full episode here:

Army nurse Lt. Eunice Hatchitt started WW2 caring for wounded men in a primitive battlefield hospital on Bataan. Escaping The Philippines at the last moment, she returned home a national hero.

But WW2 wasn’t over for her.

In 1944, she found herself following Gen. Patton’s army onto European battlefields.

Oh, and she also made a small detour to Hollywood in between assignments. And….she’s the heroine of her very own global war-time romance.

Nurse Hatchitt’s WW2 story is like none other.

Photos

Sources

• Eunice C. Tyler entry, “U.S., Veterans’ Gravesites, ca. 17725-2019,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2006, original data: National Cemetery Administration, Nationwide Gravesite Locator, accessed 19 March 2023
• Eunice C. Tyler entry, “U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2014, original data: Social Security Administration, Social Security Death Index, Master File, Social Security Administration, accessed 19 March 2023
• Eunice Cade Hatchitt entry, U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2015, original data: Social Security Applications and Claims, 1936-2007, accessed 19 March 2023; Eunice C “Hatch” Hatchitt Tyler (1911-2003) – Find a Grave Memorial, accessed 19 March 2023
• Eunice Hatchitt Tyler obituary, extracted from The Quan, Mar-April 2003, Volume 57, #5, email to truchasnm on 8 July 2012, posted online at Eunice C “Hatch” Hatchitt Tyler (1911-2003) – Find a Grave Memorial, accessed 19 March 2023.
• Wallace P. Hatchitt family, Caldwell County, Texas, “1920 Census | 1920 US Federal Census Records,” Database online: Ancestry.com, Lehi, UT, 2010, original data: Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920 (NARA microfilm publication T625, 2076 rolls), Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C, accessed 27 March 2023
• Neal Douglass, “Lockhart’s Own War Hero—Nurse Who Knew the Horrors of Bataan—to Talk at Rally Friday,” 30 Jul 1942, page 1, The Austin American, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 27 March 2023.
• Wallace P. Hatchitt family, Caldwell County, Texas, “1930 US Federal Census Records,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, UT, 2002, original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census, Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930, Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930, T626, 2,667 rolls, accessed 27 March 2023.
• Eunice Hatchett entry, 1934, “U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2011, Original data, accessed 19 March 2023.
• Neal Douglass, “Lockhart’s Own War Hero—Nurse Who Knew the Horrors of Bataan—to Talk at Rally Friday,” 30 Jul 1942, page 1, The Austin American, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 27 March 2023.
• Eunice Cade Hatchitt entry, “U.S., Select Military Registers, 1862-1985,”database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, UT, 2013, original data: United States Military Registers, 1902–1985, Salem, Oregon: Oregon State Library, accessed 19 March 2023.
• Frances Long, “Lt. Eunice Hatchitt Saw Bataan, Corregidor Fall,” 16 Sep 1943, Page 7, The Paris News, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 27 March 2023.
• Elizabeth Norman, We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of the American Women Trapped on Bataan (New York: Random House, 1999), page 125.
• Eunice Hatchitt Tyler obituary, extracted from The Quan, online at Eunice C “Hatch” Hatchitt Tyler (1911-2003) – Find a Grave Memorial; Elizabeth Norman, We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of the American Women Trapped on Bataan (New York: Random House, 1999), page 245-46.
• Charles Bernard Tyler Jr. (1914-1971), Find a Grave Memorial, accessed 28 March 2023
• Charles Bernard Tyler entry, “U.S., Carded Birth Records in Military Hospitals, 1884-1916,” database online: Ancestry.com, Lehi, Utah, 2022, original data: Carded Birth Records, 1884 – 1912, NAID: 655727, Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1762-1984, Record Group 94, The National Archives at Washington, DC, accessed 28 March 2023.
• Charles B Tyler family, Lawton, Comanche, Oklahoma, “1930 US Federal Census Records,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, UT, 2002, original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census, Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930, Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930, T626, 2,667 rolls, accessed 28 March 2023.
• Charles B. Tyler Jr obituary, 21 May 1971, Page 54, San Antonio Express, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 28 March 2023
• “Col. Tyler Given Croix De Guerre,” 09 Dec 1945, page 5, The Lawton Constitution, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 28 March 2023.
• Mary Ellen Condon-Rall and Albert E. Cowdrey, “A Medical Calamity,” The Medical Department: Medical Service in the War Against Japan(Center of Military History, United States Army: Washington, DC, 1998), page 54, online at History.Army.mil, accessed 27 March 2023.
• Juanita Redmond, I Served on Bataan (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1943).
• “Nurse Hatchitt Will Wed Major Now in Far East,” 07 Aug 1942, page 7, The Austin American, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 27 March 2023.
• Elizabeth Norman, We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of the American Women Trapped on Bataan (New York: Random House, 1999).
• Alice Hughes, “Nurse’s Memories of Bataan Still All To Impressive,” 05 Oct 1943, page 16, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 27 March 2023.
• “Our Men and Women in Service,” 23 Apr 1944, page 12, The Lawton Constitution, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 23 March 2023.
• “53^rd Field Hospital: Unit History,” WW2 US Medial Research Centre, accessed 27 march 2023.
• Eunice Hatchitt Tyler obituary, extracted from The Quan, online at Eunice C “Hatch” Hatchitt Tyler (1911-2003) – Find a Grave Memorial
• Eunice C. Hatchitt and Charles B. Tyler, “England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2010, original data: General Register Office, England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes, London, England: General Register Office, ©Crown copyright, Published by permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Office for National Statistics, Indexes created by the General Register Office, in London, England, accessed 19 March 2023.
• Betty Bell, “Nine Texas Women in Armed Service Decorated,” 20 Aug 1944, page 15, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 27 March 2023.
• “Tyler Family Has Two West Pointers,” 26 Jul 1945, page 9, The Lawton Constitution, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 27 march 2023.
• “Col. Tyler Given Croix De Guerre,” 09 Dec 1945, page 5, The Lawton Constitution, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 28 March 2023.
• Eunice C Tyler entry, “U.S., Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Volume 1,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2010, Original data: Voter Registration Lists, Public Record Filings, Historical Residential Records, and Other Household Database Listings, accessed 19 March 2023.

Historic Audio Source

• 1944 December 19-20 – News roundup, Audio, File: 1944-12-19-and-20-NBC-News, Source: 1944 Radio News : WA4CZD : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive