Corps Reserves in 1942 prior to his activation to active duty in the fall of 1943. In 1944, Bertelli was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant, where he served as an infantry and recreation officer. After stops at Quantico, Camp Lejeune and Camp Pendleton, Bertelli embarked to participate in combat operations in the Pacific. After arriving from Guam in February 1945, he served in the Battle of Iwo Jima as a liaison officer with the 21st Marine Regiment, where he was nearly killed when a Japanese mortar shell landed 15 feet away from his position; four others were also caught in the explosion, with a doctor suffering serious wounds but surviving. Bertelli returned to Guam in March 1945 and served in Sasebo, Japan. When World War II ended, Bertelli was stationed in Nagasaki with the 2nd Marine Division as a second lieutenant. On January 1, 1946, he captained a Marine football team, the Nagasaki Bears, in the Atom Bowl against National Football League star Bill Osmanski and his Isahaya Tigers, where he threw two touchdown passes in the first half; although the two had promised to ensure the game end in a tie to promote unit morale, Osmanski scored the game-winning extra point in the 14–13 Tiger win. Bertelli's son Mike quipped in 2005, "My dad didn't lose any sleep over it, but of all the games he played in, he remembered that incident." Bertelli later entered the United States Marine Corps Reserve where he was promoted to the rank of captain and served until 1957. Professional career After returning to the United States in 1946, Bertelli signed with the Los Angeles Dons of the All-America Football Conference; he also recruited Atom Bowl players Bill Joslin and Gorham Graham, who were still stationed in Japan, to play with him. Bertelli played for the Chicago Rockets between 1947 and 1948. After several knee surgeries, he retired prior to the 1949 season. After his retirement from professional football, Bertelli moved to Clifton, New Jersey, and operated several businesses, with Bertelli Enterprises, Inc. becoming a retail liquor outlet. He was the color analyst for the Princeton University football games broadcast on radio station WVNJ, 620 AM and 100.3 FM in the 1950s and 60s. Death and family On June 26, 1999, Bertelli died at the age of 78 after a losing battle with brain cancer. He was buried in Immaculate Conception Cemetery,