POST FALLS - Anton Rasmussen has a unique perspective when he looks at the famous photo of the raising of the U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima.

"Thank God I'm alive," the World War II Marine veteran said of what comes to mind when he sees Joe Rosenthal's iconic photo. "We were scared poopless."

Rasmussen, who lives at The Bridge assisted living facility at Garden Plaza in Post Falls, was behind Rosenthal when the photographer captured five U.S. Marines and one U.S. Navy battlefield hospital corpsman raise the flag on the fifth day of the 35-day battle.

"If I was smarter, I would've gotten into the photo," quipped Rasmussen.

The photograph recorded the second flag-raising on the mountain that day and instantly became a symbol of the battle, the war in the Pacific and of the Marine Corps.

The photo is a bittersweet memory for Rasmussen, who shared his life experiences during the monthly "This is my story" presentation to fellow residents at The Bridge on Tuesday.

The U.S. captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Empire, but victory came with a heavy price.

"Out of the six guys who raised the flag, only three got off the island," Rasmussen said softly. "We lost 7,000 kids on Iwo; 17,000 were wounded. Our casualty rate in the Fourth Marine Division was 27 percent."

Rasmussen said he was lucky to make it off the island.

Later in the battle, a knee mortar, which Rasmussen kept as a souvenir and uses for show and tell, landed between his legs at lunch. It didn't explode because the Japanese soldier who fired it forgot to pull the safety pin.

"If they hadn't forgotten to take out the safety pin, I wouldn't be here," he said.

Rasmussen, who was a "forward observer" or spotter responsible for directing artillery during the war, was hit with shrapnel three times during the year. He was not hospitalized.

"About 10 years ago, they took a piece out of my back," he said.

Rasmussen, 89, said serving in the military changed his life.

"I was headed for the penitentiary," he said, adding that he had a "dysfunctional" family and his father was an alcoholic.

In high school, Rasmussen and a buddy put a 3-foot bull snake in a female teacher's drawer after they had become upset with her.

"It fell on her lap when she opened the drawer for roll call," Rasmussen said. "She passed out and hit her head. We were expelled in about 15 minutes and it brought civil charges."

The judge, a World War I vet, decided discipline, not reform, was what Rasmussen needed. That's what landed Rasmussen in the Marines at just 17.

"I'm damn proud (of serving), but I wouldn't want to do it again," he said.

Rasmussen said one of his proudest moments was when he was pinned as a Marine at the end of boot camp. It was a sense of achievement from his rebellious ways.

After his service, Rasmussen taught at Central Valley High School in Spokane and was the head football and track coach. After teaching for eight years, he became the school's vice principal for 19 years, from 1962 to 1981.

Rasmussen said his military experience prepared him well for the school jobs.

"I understood kids," he said. "The tougher the kid, the more I understood them because that's who I was. There wasn't a kid who came to me in trouble that I wasn't willing to talk to."

Rasmussen enjoys speaking to groups of all ages.

"I want to make dang sure that the people growing up now remember what was given to them," he said. "The concept that burns me is, 'Kids aren't worth a damn.' That's just not true. I've handled tough kids and they are my friends. If you build success, you build confidence. If you build confidence, you build good behavior."

Looking back, Rasmussen is thankful that he's a graduate of the school of hard knocks.

"I've found that everything I was subjected to was an important part of my life because I learned something," Rasmussen said.