Jimmy Keep and Grizzlies forward Zach Randolph hit it off when they met last season.

SHARE February 18, 2015 -- Malcolm 'Jimmy' Keep 88, at his home in Raleigh. Keep, who was Shelby County's last surviving veteran of the battle of Iwo Jima, died Sunday. (Brad Vest/The Commercial Appeal)

By Tom Charlier of The Commercial Appeal

Fighting through the jungles of Guam and Saipan and the tunnels of Iwo Jima, Marine veteran Malcolm "Jimmy" Keep hewed to a simple credo:

"You complete your mission, or you die. There's nothing more to it," Keep told The Commercial Appeal last year as he prepared to revisit Iwo on the 70th anniversary of the iconic World War II battle that claimed the lives of nearly 7,000 Marines.

Keep, a native Memphian, completed his missions, and then some. He endured some of the most intense fighting of the Pacific war, then returned to the city to work as an electrician and raise a family — never talking about his combat experiences until the last few years of his life.

He died Sunday night, almost exactly a year after he, his son Mickey Keep and other veterans stood atop Mount Suribachi during the return visit to Iwo. He was 89, and had suffered a broken hip last summer.

"His body was all worn out. His mind was still there," said Mickey Keep, 68, the veteran's only surviving child.

A resident of the Raleigh area, Keep had been something of a "media sensation," his son said, ever since February of last year, when The CA profiled him in a story recounting his combat experiences and discussing his abiding love for the Memphis Grizzlies NBA team. The story also reported on efforts by the local nonprofit group Forever Young Senior Veterans to raise money to pay for Keep and his son to make the trip to Iwo.

Zach Randolph, the burly forward whose toughness made him Keep's favorite Grizzly, met Keep after the Grizzlies gave him game tickets and honored him last year.

Rest in peace, WWII / Iwo Jima Veteran & MY hero, Jimmy Keep. #AllHeart thoughts & prayers go out to the Keep family pic.twitter.com/5JAy0kKzEw — Zach Randolph (@MacBo50) March 21, 2016

Diane Hight, founder and president of the Forever Young group, said Keep is probably the only Iwo veteran she's ever met who fought the 36-day entire battle. So bloody was the combat that many survivors were wounded at some point.

"He was a true American hero," Hight said. "I don't think I've ever met a veteran who sacrificed any more than he did. He went through so much."

Although Keep wasn't really wanting to return to Iwo, "going back did bring him peace and closure," she said.

Mickey Keep said that on Iwo his father was treated like a hero by high-ranking officers — even the Commandant of the Marine Corps — who had read about his story. "Full-bird colonels were treating him like he was Elvis."

Born in Orlando, Florida, and raised by his grandmother in Depression-era Memphis, Keep quit school after the sixth grade and went to work making 25 cents an hour at a lumber company. The working conditions were bad enough, however, that he joined the Marines in 1943 at age 17.

A scrawny 5-foot-5, Keep nonetheless proved his toughness as a Marine. He teamed up with another little guy, Charlie Cirulla of Massachusetts, on reconnaissance duty, and the two fought together through the remainder of the war, experiencing intense combat first on Guam, then Saipan.

On Saipan, Keep manned a 50-caliber machine gun during one of the infamous banzai charges in which Japanese soldiers charged at Marine lines in suicidal human-wave assaults. "It was the bloodiest thing you ever saw," he said. "The damn fools wouldn't quit coming."

Keep remembered the rage he felt after a lieutenant walked by and congratulated Keep because his "pile of bodies was bigger" than those of the other Marine defenders.

"I was going to kill that son of a bitch. I could still hear them (the Japanese) scream. I could hear myself scream. Something in me snapped."

During the assault on Iwo, Keep and Cirulla were ordered to drive an amphibious tank across the narrow neck of the island below Mount Suribachi to scout the beach on the opposite shore. But an enemy shell disabled the vehicle, forcing the two to cover the distance on foot while being fired upon by "every Japanese soldier ever born," Keep recalled.

Keep and Cirulla were assigned the harrowing duty of helping flush enemy troops from the numerous tunnels that laced the volcanic island. Once, as the two neared a corner in a tunnel, they knew there were many Japanese troops on the other side — they could smell them. "I imagine they could smell us, too, " Keep said.

The two Marines lobbed grenades, ricocheting them off tunnel walls. The Japanese — entire squad of 15 or so — responded by charging at Keep and Cirulla, only to be mowed down.

A Navy photo published in "Flags of Our Fathers," a book about the battle for Iwo, shows Keep helping a wounded Marine to the shore during the fighting. Keep remembered giving the officer grief for crying about his wound, telling him, "You're getting off this rock. I'll trade places with you."

In the interview, Keep acknowledged that he and Cirulla had grown so accustomed to combat and the killing that they missed it once the war ended. He said he wanted to visit the Shinto shrines of Japan's indigenous faith to ask forgiveness for killing so many of that nation's soldiers.

As close as the two were during the war, Keep and Cirulla, now deceased, never got together afterward, fearing the memories that might be conjured. But Keep named every cat and dog he ever had "Charlie" in honor of his combat buddy.

Keep, who also is survived by five grandchildren, became a loyal Grizzlies fan in recent years. It was the team's Marine-like grit that appealed to him.

"They're not afraid to bust your ass to get to the basket," he said.

Randolph, nicknamed Z-Bo, was his favorite.

On Saturday night, less than 24 hours before he died, Keep watched his last Grizzlies game on TV. As if on cue, Randolph emerged from a seven-game layoff to deliver one of the best performances of his career. He registered his first ever triple double — 28 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists — to lead injury-depleted Memphis to an improbable 113-102 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.

Mickey Keep heard his father excitedly describe how his favorite Grizzly was playing.

"That's my man Z-Bo, kicking their ass," the old Marine had said.