Bernie Rardin has only one explanation as to how he walked off the island of Iwo Jima alive and unhurt 67 years ago.“By the grace of God,” said Rardin, 85, who was one of the younger Marines on the battlefront in the South Pacific.The Copley Township man was part of the critical battle for the Japanese-held island that began on Feb. 19, 1945.Today on the eve of the anniversary, Rardin and six or seven other Iwo Jima veterans, their families and others plan to gather for lunch at the First Christian Church at 6900 Market Ave. in Plain Township in Stark County. A similar gathering of battle survivors is planned for Feb. 23, the anniversary of the raising of the flag on Mount Suribachi, at the O’Charley’s Restaurant at 283 Howe Ave. in Cuyahoga Falls. George Pounders of Springfield Township will pay for the lunches of all the World War II veterans who attend.An estimated 6,800 Americans were killed during the five-week battle on Iwo Jima.Rardin, the son of Marine veteran Fred Rardin, left for boot camp at Parris Island about a week after graduating from Akron East High School in June 1944. It was just three weeks after his 18th birthday.After boot camp, he returned to Akron on a train for a 10-day leave with fellow Marine and Akronite Chuck Constantine. The pair partied and went on dates with 23 girls between them while they were in town.Rardin wound up on the island of Maui, Hawaii, for training with the 4th Marine Division.On the day after Christmas in 1945, he boarded a ship that was part of an armada of 800 ships. He then found out the boats were heading for Iwo Jima.On the day of the invasion, Rardin was about a half-mile offshore helping to transport cans of gasoline from a landing ship tank to an amphibious tractor that carried the fuel to the beach. On Feb. 21, he arrived on the black beach of Iwo Jima.“It was a constant din” of firing when he landed and the entire time he was on the beach, he said.“There was nothing but dead bodies and body parts. It is hard to describe. ... It was so horrific. It was terrible.”He stayed there, dug in for two days, until he hooked up with A Company, 25th Regiment, 1st Battalion, as a machine gunner.He joined a company that initially had 240 Marines, but had just 80 left when he and other Marines joined them. They brought the total to 160. By the time the battle on the island ended, Rardin said, there were only 30 left who had not been killed or wounded, and only two of those were members of the original unit.Fighting on Iwo Jima, he said, was continuous day and night and included hand-to-hand combat with Japanese soldiers.Several days into the battle, Rardin asked about Constantine. He learned that Constantine, a rifleman, had been killed by a sniper.One moment Rardin remembers vividly is when he and other Marines were crossing an airfield.As they darted across, he said, Japanese snipers began firing. He saw a deep truck track ahead and jumped into it to avoid being hit. A Marine behind him jumped into another track near him. He heard that Marine say the track wasn’t deep enough for him.“No sooner had he got in there, he got it in the forehead,” Rardin said.Rardin grabbed his rosary and prayed and played dead for several hours to avoid being shot.After the battle on the island was over, Rardin went back to Maui, where he trained for the planned invasion of Japan. However, the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended the war. He spent another year at Guam and was discharged.After the war, he went to the University of Akron and then to the University of Cincinnati, where he studied architecture. While there, he met Roberta “Berttie” Salzman. Six months later, they married.Rardin worked as a project manager for Rardin Brothers, his father’s company; John David Jones, Consulting Engineer; and Dotson Stilson before retiring at the age of 71.He and his wife have been married for 61 years. They have five children – four living – and 17 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.At a local Iwo Jima gathering in the 1990s, Rardin sat down next to another couple and began talking. It turned out the woman was the sister of his friend Chuck Constantine, who died in the battle.“I break up every time I tell that story,” he said.Roberta Rardin said her husband was silent about the war for decades, but after he watched the movie Saving Private Ryan in the 1990s, he began to talk about his war experience.Bernie Rardin said he never had nightmares from the war. When he left the Marines, he wanted to “get on with the rest of my life.” He prays for 45 minutes every morning at 5:30. “I pray in thanksgiving not only for the gift of getting me through the battle but for the gift of Berttie and all of our children,” he said.He admits the war “affected [his] life profoundly.”He said it was “divine intervention” that protected him during the war. And this faith still guides his life.“God uses all things to the good,” he said.Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or at jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com.