Temple native Keifer Marshall, Jr. (1925-) served as a rifleman in the United States Marine Corps, 3rd Marine Division, 9th Regiment, F Company, 2nd Battalion, during World War II. In February and March 1945, he saw heavy combat on Iwo Jima in the South Pacific, in a battle considered by many to be the bloodiest in United States Marine Corps history. During a 36-hour segment of the fighting, his company was cut off from reinforcements and supplies, and he was one of only three or four marines from his 250-man company to survive; F Company suffered the severest casualties of the campaign. As he left the island, he passed a graveyard full of fresh American graves and saw words chiseled into a rock: "When you go home, tell them for us and say, for your tomorrow we gave our today." More than 6,800 Marines and corpsmen died at Iwo Jima in the battle from February 19 to March 26, 1945. In later life, Marshall was a public servant and community leader, including service as Temple mayor and on numerous local boards and committees, and recordings of his memories of the battle became part of the Texas Veterans Land Board Voices of Veterans and the U.S. Library of Congress.