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MARINE WHO PLACED FIRST U.S. FLAG AT IWO JIMA
DIES
AT AGE 86 -- Charles W. Lindberg spent decades
explaining
that it was his patrol, not the one in the
famous
AP photograph, that raised the first flag.
Charles W. Lindberg, in 1999, with
a photo of his participation in the first flag raising at Iwo Jima
in 1945. He is standing at rear right. (photo: Jackie Lorentz /
Grand Forks Herald, via Associated Press) |
Story here...
http://www.nytimes.com/
2007/06/27/us/27lindberg
.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Story below:
-------------------------
Charles W. Lindberg, 86, Dies; Placed First
Flag at Iwo Jima
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RICHFIELD, Minn., (AP) — Charles W. Lindberg, one of the marines who
raised the first American flag over Iwo Jima during World War II, died
Sunday in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina. He was 86.
His death was confirmed by John Pose, director of the Morris Nilsen
Funeral Chapel in Richfield.
Mr. Lindberg spent decades explaining that it was his patrol, not the
one in the famous Associated Press photograph by Joe Rosenthal, that
raised the first flag as American forces fought to take the Japanese
island.
In the late morning of Feb. 23, 1945, Mr. Lindberg, then a Marine
corporal, fired his flamethrower into enemy pillboxes at the base of
Mount Suribachi and then joined five other marines fighting their way to
the top.
The flag-raising was captured by Sgt. Lou Lowery, a photographer from
Leatherneck, the Marine Corps magazine.
Three of the men in the first flag raising never saw their photos. They
were among the more than 6,800 American servicemen killed in the
five-week battle for the island.
Mr. Lindberg was shot through the arm and evacuated. He was later
awarded the Silver Star for bravery and a Purple Heart.
By Mr. Lindberg’s account, his commander ordered the first flag replaced
and safeguarded because he worried someone would take it as a souvenir.
Mr. Lindberg was back in combat when six men raised the second, larger
flag, about four hours later.
Mr. Rosenthal’s photo of the second flag-raising became one of the most
enduring images of the war and the model for the Marine Corps War
Memorial in Washington. Mr. Rosenthal, who died last year, always denied
accusations that he staged the photo, and he never claimed it depicted
the first raising of a flag over the island.
After his discharge in January 1946, Mr. Lindberg went home to Grand
Forks, N.D. He moved to Richfield in 1951 and became an electrician.
No one, he said, believed him when he said he raised the first flag at
Iwo Jima.
“I was called a liar,” he said. In 1954, Mr. Lindberg was invited to
Washington for the dedication of the Marine memorial. It carried the
names of the second group of flag-raisers, but not the first.
He spent his final years trying to raise awareness of the first
flag-raising, speaking to veterans groups and at schools, selling
autographed copies of Mr. Lowery’s photos through catalogs and filling a
back room of his home with souvenirs of the battle.
His survivors include his wife, Vi; his daughters, Diane Steiger of
Burnsville, Minn., and Karen Davidson of Roseau, Minn.; his sons, Rod,
of Ely, Minn., Rick, of Hermantown, Minn., and Jeff, of Ramsey, Minn.;
his sisters, Dorothy Wencl of Washington state and Margaret Thurber of
Anoka, Minn.; and 15 grandchildren.
-------------------------
Larry Scott --
