Etched in time: Chattanoogan Lee Reynolds saved canteen inscribed by Marine during bloody WWII fight.

Byline: Matt Wilson

Oct. 8--Chattanooga native Lee Reynolds did not expect to find a piece of history as he performed his routine work detail at Camp Lejune, N.C., more than 40 years ago. Then a lance corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps, Mr. Reynolds was carrying an armful of scrapped canteens to the crusher when he noticed something etched into one. "It's not easy to see," he said. "But I saw it was a message and I saved it." The message, scratched into the canteen's metal with a bayonet, a knife or possibly a C-ration can opener, told the story of a soldier in the World War II Battle of Iwo Jima who wanted to get a message to a woman named Betty. "Iwa …