The first time Charles Beidleman stepped onto the black ash beach of Iwo Jima was to do battle Feb. 19, 1945. He was 19 and a Marine.

"When we hit the beach, we took a beating. As we got close to Mount Suribachi, there were Japanese up on the volcano firing down on us with mortars," he said.

Several hundred miles from the Japanese mainland and a mere 6 miles long and 2 miles wide, Iwo Jima is dominated by the extinct Mount Suribachi volcano.

One of the bloodiest battles of World War II was fought there. By the time the guns stopped a month later, more than 6,800 Americans had died, and more than 18,000 were wounded. More than 20,000 Japanese died, and about 200 were taken prisoner.

Beidleman of Lehigh Township has lived a long, full life, but that tiny rock of an island looms large.

Last month, he was the only man from his company at the dedication of an Iwo Jima monument in Hawaii.

He is 77 and still a proud Marine. "Once a Marine, always a Marine. It is a big part of my life and always has been," he said as he spoke about the service and the island.

But the dedication opened old wounds.

"It was very special to me," he said. "It was the first time in my life I cried about the war. I pulled my hat over my face and cried. It really touched me."

The new memorial, at the Marine base at Kaneohe Bay on Oahu island, is a stone replica of the famous flag-raising on Suribachi and was paid for by the state of Hawaii, where the Marines trained on volcanic slopes before shipping out.

"The memorial is all about the flag-raising. Around the sides are remarks different people made about Iwo Jima throughout the years," he said.

He and his wife made the trip.

Like so many others, he does not talk about his war experiences, except at the annual reunions with his fellow Marines. But his wife, Elaine, knows when war memories surface.

"He gets very emotional about it," she said. "He does not show it. He just sits in the chair and is quiet. He won't even sleep."

Beidleman, who was a corporal with E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division on Iwo Jima , remembers the battle by days.The third was the worst.

"We had to cut the island in two," he said. "The end of Feb. 21, it was murder. There were no line officers left, and like all else, duties trickled down. It was all enlisted men running the platoons."

As members of his company made the famous flag-raising at the summit, he saw it from the base of Mount Suribachi, where the fighting continued.

He remembers the elaborate system of caves and tunnels that provided protection to the Japanese as they tried to fend off the American assault.

He was not worried about death. "When you are 19, you didn't think of getting killed," he said.

Beidleman, a Lehigh Valley native who went to the old Whitehall High School and played football, baseball and basketball, was carried off Iwo Jima with gunshot wounds to his hip that ended the war for him.

He visited the island in 1970 and again in 1995, when he saw a landing strip and hangars for planes and little more.

But the memories of Iwo Jima are there to remind him.

"The older I get, the more I remember. When you are young, you don't care," he said.

CHARLES Beidleman