When you hear the lengths Ron "Rondo" Scharfe went to in order to join the U.S. Navy long before he was 18, you'll quickly understand his commitment to service.

At just 16-years old, Scharfe served as a Higgins Boat coxswain at Iwo Jima. He details the serious injury he suffered on his very first effort to bring Marines ashore in the early moments of that bloody battle in February 1945. Yet somehow he was back on the beach just two days later.

Scharfe describes witnessing the flag raising on Mt. Suribachi and his service weeks later in the brutal Battle of Okinawa.

Still young at heart, Scharfe shares his story of service with an engaging, plainspoken wit. Listen now.