Dallas Hiatt was recognized at the Marine Corps’s annual luncheon and ball as the oldest living Marine in Colorado.  He was, at least, the oldest living Marine to attend the luncheon for many years running.

Dallas went into the Marine Corps three days after he turned 18; he went to boot camp at the Marine Barracks in San Diego, and he was stationed in Camps Elliot and Miramar, and Pendleton.

While he was stationed in San Diego, Pearl Harbor was attacked.  That day of Sunday, December 7, 1941, was the only day that the men had had to themselves, so they were surprised when they were ordered onto trucks and driven to La Jolla, California.  They were put out on the beach because the military generals believed that the Japanese air gunners would continue their bombing campaign and then invade the coast of the Western United States.  The irony was that all Dallas had was a 45 caliber pistol and one bullet.  He was standing on the beach at 18 years of age and wondering, “What did I get myself into?” He said that he guessed they would have thrown their guns at the Japanese had they landed.  They later learned that the nearest storage area for munitions was at Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Denver, Colorado.

Dallas was shipped to New Hebrides for three months on the French Islands, and he was then stationed in the north island of New Zealand for maneuvers for five months. 

One of the first conflicts Dallas participated in was the Battle of Tarawa, an island shaped like a fish hook which was a sand bar built on coral.  Tarawa was under the command of Admiral Nimitz, and he sent a force of 18,000 to Tarawa.  The island was only two miles long and one mile wide.  The U.S. bombed the island and the coconut log bunkers for several days, and then the Marines were supposed to hit the shore at high tide, but his commanders made a mistake, and they hit at low tide.  Dallas’s amphibious boat was hit with mortar shell right before the boat landed; he lost half of his boot camp buddies before his very eyes.  Although the island’s defenses looked demolished, the 2nd Marine Division struggled ashore and finally managed to push the Japanese into the interior.  The Japanese resisted fiercely, but on the night of November 22, they made a number of suicidal counterattacks and were cut down by the Marines.  By the next evening the island had been secured but at a heavy price: 1,009 Marines and sailors were killed and 2,101 were wounded.  As Dallas said of the aftermath, “You could hardly walk from one end of the island to the other without stepping on a dead body.”

After the conquest of the Gilbert Islands, Admiral Nimitz needed to knock out the Mariana Islands including Saipan, Tinian and Guam.  On June 15th of 1944 the amphibious corps landed in the extreme south of Saipan, covered by heavy naval shelling.  By nightfall there were 20,000 troops ashore, and the Japanese were defeated in less than a month.

During this time on Saipan, Dallas’s wisdom tooth was badly infected, and it grew into his mouth so deeply that he could not chew and was starving.  He was almost shot for deserting his post when he heard that a medic station had been set up.  The medics gave him whiskey, made him straddle and oil drum and pulled the infected tooth out with pliers.  After he spit out the blood, he ran to the mess tent, and he said he never felt his pain due to his hunger.

During this time on Saipan, Dallas was in a foxhole where he contracted both “Dingy Fever” and Malaria.  The only cure that the medics had was a Bayer aspirin which was dropped into his foxhole every morning. 

On July 24th Dallas’s 2nd Marine division was transported to a small beach on Tinian where the Marines lost only 327 soldiers with 1,771 wounded, but the Japanese lost their entire garrison.

While on Tinian Dallas and some buddies took a Japanese radio out of one of the planes as a souvenir; when they got back to Saipan, someone paid them $300.00 for that radio; they all split the money.  Dallas said that that was a lot of money back in those days because he was only paid between $21.00 to $56.00 per month.  When asked what he did with his money, he said he always sent it back to the Albion National Bank in Indiana so that his mother could have funds if she needed them.  Dallas was one of the few soldiers who didn’t gamble his money away; he saved $3000.00 during the entire war experience.

After the Marshall Islands were taken, Dallas and his troops were sent back to Hawaii where they were stationed at Parker Ranch, the biggest ranch in Hawaii, and the second biggest in the United States.  There was only one small trail into Hilo; while Hilo was off limits to most of the troops, Dallas (who had been promoted to sergeant early in the training maneuvers) and one other sergeant were able to go into Hilo to drop off the troops’s laundry every Saturday night. He said that there were too many pretty women and temptations in Hilo.

Dallas was then sent back to Washington D.C. where he was part of the Honor Guard for several weeks while he waited to go into the Marine Corps Institute and finish out his duty.  While he was part of the Honor Guard, he met President Roosevelt’s casket at Union Depot and escorted it to the White House.  A few days later he escorted Roosevelt’s casket back from the White House to the train.  Dallas said that while the duty might sound glamorous, at the funeral the guards were always at attention, where they were not allowed to move a muscle, or at parade rest.

Dallas was among the first group of Marines to be formally discharged in September of 1945.  After he came home, he said that he was so happy to be alive that he would never utter a complaint again.