Bill Gardner, 90, who served as a Navy signalman aboard the USS Izard during World War II, recalls the Battle of Iwo Jima, which was fought 70 years ago this month and claimed 7,000 American lives. “I don’t know why I’m here,” Gardner says. “Only God knows why.”

After training to become a Navy signalman, Bill Gardner joined the crew of the USS Izard at the age of 19 in August 1943. “It was nothing to admit you were scared,” Gardner recalls. “We all were.”

Gardner, center, poses with his sisters Rose and Gertrude during World War II. A Portland native, Gardner volunteered for the Navy right after graduating from high school in June 1942.

The iconic image by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal depicting America’s indomitability during the five-week battle for the Pacific island.

Bill Gardner holds a cap with the insignia of the USS Izard, the destroyer he served on during World War II. Joe Butler of Hampton, N.H., a former shipmate and Gardner’s lifelong friend, described it as “the luckiest ship in the world.”