Anthony F. Stelzner, CCC Man, Camp Mondeaux River & PFC, 5th Amphibian Tractor Battalion, Iwo Jima, USMC & Charlie StelznerMarine, Iwo Jima, USMC

Biography of Anthony F. Stelzner

CCC Man, Camp Mondeaux River

PFC, 5th Amphibian Tractor Battalion, Iwo Jima, USMC

Biography of Charlie Stelzner

Marine, Iwo Jima, USMC

My dad worked at CCC Camp Mondeaux River in 1933 (he passed away in 1999). He was in barracks number 3. My dad was Anthony F. Stelzner and he was 16 when he was in the camp. He joined the CCC when he was living in Milwaukee (where our whole family is from). He also belonged to an Alumni Chapter when he lived in Maryland, as well as membership list when he retired to Florida. This information was national in scope.

In 1943 (prior to my birth some months later) he joined the Marine Corps. I know he fought on Iwo Jima. He was a rifleman assigned to drive landing craft. He was in the second wave to hit the beaches. However, there were not enough craft for him to drive so when he hit the beach the beach master assigned him to stretcher duty and he spent 38 days carrying dead and wounded. Meanwhile, his brother (Charlie Stelzner, my namesake) was also on Iwo as a Marine fighting his way up to the top of Mt. Suribachi on the other side of the island. They did not meet up during or following the battle. Neither was wounded during the war, but both had very close calls. One night my dad and his foxhole buddy crawled over to an adjacent fox hole as the guys had a can of fruit cocktail to share. As they got in the hole with the other 2 guys a mortar landed it the foxhole they just crawled out of.

I have attached a couple of documents I could find regarding my dad's service. The confusing thing is that it says he served from May 1944 until December 1945. Both my parents told me he was in the Marines when I was born in November (17th) 1943. The picture of him was taken in 1945 and the picture of the Marines with their fish was taken on Maui 1945 after they returned from Iwo Jima. He is the second from the right in that picture. His liberty card is weird as well because it listed his date of birth as July 18th, 1945 (versus 1915). The documents were from a Marine Corp reunion that was held in Rapid City SD for the 5th Amphibian Tractor Battalion in September 1991. I have several letters from their reunions which was for Marines that fought in Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima.