Charles Gubish was born in February 1919 in Allentown [Annotator's Note: Allentown, Pennsylvania]. He only completed school through the sixth grade, being taken out of school to help on the family farm, as his father was a farmer. He was one of seven children, all of whom helped on the farm. Lee would feed the chickens, chop wood, and milk cows. They would sell their vegetables at a local market. Gubish got tired of the job he had at a steel company, and all of his friends were in the service, so he decided to enlist in the Marine Corps in June 1944 even though he knew nothing about the Marines. Had he known what it was like, he would have joined the Navy. [Annotator's Note: Gubish laughs.] He went for training at Parris Island [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in Port Royal, South Carolina]. Training was very strict. During drills one day, a man passed out and they were berated for trying to help him. Another time, three men were punished and beaten for laughing during a march. In retrospect, Gubish thinks the strict training helped and may be why he is still here today.

Charles Gubish did not know much about what was going on with the war in the Pacific. Marine Corps boot camp was tough. They had to do mess duty for a week after their training was nearly completed. Even in the mess hall, the strict standards were enforced, and the table settings had to be set in a specific way. From boot camp at Parris Island [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in Port Royal, South Carolina] they were shipped to Cherry Point [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in Havelock, North Carolina] and learned to read compasses, go on hikes, how to properly use flashlights at night, etc. Then they went to Camp Pendleton [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, California] for two weeks before shipping out. Many of the men got sick with diarrhea on their way to the troopship to go to the Pacific. They took a French troopship called the Rochambeau [Annotator's Note: USS Rochambeau (AP-63)]. They got fresh water in the mornings, and at night they showered in salt water. They were on the ship for 46 days without getting off before arriving in Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands]. Many men got very seasick.

Charles Gubish was in the 3rd Marine Division [Annotator's Note: 9th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division] when he arrived in Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands], and was assigned to the fire department there until he went home. They were stationed near a B-29 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] base. The fire department could get all the coke [Annotator's Note: Coca-Cola] they wanted, and the bomber pilots could get booze, so they would trade. Gubish was sent to Great Lakes [Annotator's Note: Great Lakes Naval Base in Chicago, Illinois] and was discharged Christmas Day [Annotator's Note: 25 December 1945]. Before that, his unit went to Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Battle of Iwo Jima; 19 February to 26 March 1945; Iwo Jima, Japan]. They went around in Higgins boats [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat] but were unable to reach the shore, so they went back to the LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] and went back to shore the next day. They had to climb down chain ladders which they had never trained for. When they got to the beach, he saw the bodies of dead Marines and was disgusted. He would have been happy for a Jap [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] to shoot him he was so disgusted. They were soaking wet and could do nothing about it. They did not experience too much enemy fire on the beach, but there were occasional air raids. The waves were rough when going in and they lost a lot of equipment. Gubish believes that if the Japs had opened fire when the Marines were coming onto the beach rather than waiting until they moved up, they would have held the island. Jap bodies were left where they were, but they would pick up the dead Marines so tanks would not roll over them. Gubish now knows what brains look like. Sometimes he would just see a hand sticking out of the sand. It was an awful sight to see, but that was war.

Charles Gubish managed to have some fun when he had time off. There was a food bank [Annotator's Note: during the Battle of Iwo Jima; 19 February to 26 March 1945; Iwo Jima, Japan] and Gubish's friend, Graham, risked his life to steal a can of grapefruit juice. They grew beards and could not bathe for weeks. Gubish says 13 March was his lucky day. They had to go relieve a unit in an open area. The Japanese had mortars on a ridge above them and began firing. Gubish was hit and knocked out. When he came to, the corpsman [Annotator's Note: enlisted medical specialist in the US Navy who may also serve in the US Marine Corps] told him that he thought he was dead. He does not remember anything until the next day when he woke up on a hospital ship. His foxhole buddy died and was later buried in Honolulu [Annotator's Note: at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific; a national cemetery located at Punchbowl Crater in Honolulu, Hawaii]. When he first got on Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands], he and a friend got drunk and were like babies. They told their sergeant they wanted to go home and he had them put to bed.

Charles Gubish could not remember much after being wounded [Annotator's Note: while serving with the 9th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division during the Battle of Iwo Jima; 19 February to 26 March 1945; Iwo Jima, Japan]. He could not speak. He was in shock, seeing two of his friends killed in front of him. He does not know how he was transported to the hospital ship. When he got back to the United States, he was glad he was home. The hardest thing he has been through was losing his wife in 1998. [Annotator's Note: Gubish gets emotional.] When he was married and raising children, he did not have any time to think about the war. Now that she is gone, he thinks about his experiences a lot more. Memorial Day and Veterans Day get to him, and he thinks about his buddies a lot. Christmas Day [Annotator's Note: 25 December 1945] they were in San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California] and trying to get home for Christmas, but the trains were packed with soldiers trying to get home. Gubish got to Great Lakes [Annotator's Note: Great Lakes Naval Base in Chicago, Illinois] and was discharged on Christmas morning.