"I would use my newly cultivated navy vocabulary to delay their departure until as many walking wounded and stretcher cases were loaded as possible." (Memoir, page 12)

Charles E. Kelly

Charles E. Kelly War: World War II, 1939-1946 Branch: Navy Unit: United States Naval Hospital, USS Rutland, Beach Battalion "B" Service Location: Pacific; Asia; ATB Oceanside, California Highest Rank: Pharmacist's Mate Third Class Place of Birth: Orange, CA

The fortunes of Naval Pharmacist’s Mate Charles Kelly took a dramatic turn when he was assigned to a Navy Beach Party that was to be among the first to land on Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. On that bloody first day, U.S. forces suffered over 2400 casualties; the next morning, Kelly relates in his memoir, “The bodies were packed so tightly you could hardly see a place where they were not touching in death.” Kelly illustrated his memoir with vivid drawings of bravery and unflinching portraits of the agony of death. He also pays tribute to the tenacity of the enemy; in all his time on Iwo Jima, he saw only one Japanese soldier taken prisoner.