This is unedited raw film footage, shot by Academy Award winning US Marine cinematographer Norman T. Hatch for a US newsreel that was never completed, provisionally titled 'Meet New Zealand'. Around 21,000 Marines were stationed in camps around the Wellington region from June 1942 until November 1943. Most of their time was spent training hard preparing for the war in the Southwest Pacific against the Japanese.
In the parade grounds of Camp Tarawa, on Hawai’i Island, a large group of mixed officers from the 2nd Marine Division, march onto the grounds in formation. They salute their commanding officers. A table of medals is shown. A four-star general addresses the parade through a public address system. The general and commanding officers walk along the lines of Marines, awarding them Presidential Unit Citation medals for their recent battle at Tarawa Atoll and shaking their hands. Another squadron of Marines marches out, accompanied by a brass band, and they receive their medals. Close-ups of the commanding officers, some more parading before soldiers are dismissed and begin congratulating each other.