Jun 26, 2007 12:06 am US/Central
Honoring The Life Of The 'Last Flagraiser'
Minneapolis (WCCO) ―
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The U.S. Navy awarded Charles Lindberg the Silver Star for valor at Iwo Jima in February 1945.
WCCO
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Charles "Chuck" Lindberg helped raise the first American flag during the Battle of Iwo Jima. (File)
Charles "Chuck" Lindberg, the last survivor of the first American flag-raising over Iwo Jima, passed away Sunday morning at Fairview Southdale Hospital.
Lindberg, who lived in Richfield, Minn., was 86 years old. He had been hospitalized since June 10.
During World War II, Lindberg helped raise the first American flag on Mount Surabachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima.
"Down below troops started to cheer," Lindberg recounted in a 2005 WCCO-TV documentary called "The Last Flagraiser". "You should've heard 'em. Ship whistles out in the ocean went off. It was quite a day."
His accomplishment was later overshadowed when a replacement flag was raised a few hours later.
Lindberg spent decades explaining that it was his patrol, not the one captured in the famous photograph by Joe Rosenthal, that raised the first flag over the island.
"Everybody calls that the Iwo Jima flag raising," said Lindberg. "It's not, it's the replacement flag. That's exactly what it is."
Lindberg was shot through the arm on March 1 and evacuated. He learned about the second flag-raising a week later while recovering from the wound, which earned him a Purple Heart.
After his discharge in January 1946, Lindberg -- no relation to Charles Lindbergh the aviator -- 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.
Lindberg cared about the truth. That's why he spent years trying to set the story straight telling school kids and anyone who would listen about what really happened on Mount Surabachi.
In February 2006, he was honored at a military ceremony marking the anniversary of the Iwo Jima battle. He also recently attended a groundbreaking ceremony on Memorial Day at the site of the new Honoring All Veterans memorial in Richfield, Minn.
"Our completion date is set for July 2, 2008, so it does sadden me that he won't be here to see it," said Travis Gorshe, who helped to design the memorial. "I did tell him on the 19th, when I saw him in the hospital, that we were going to start the bronzing process. ... With this memorial and him here, we'll have a visual of him that will go on for years."
The U.S. Navy awarded Charles Lindberg the Silver Star for valor at Iwo Jima in February 1945.
"Repeatedly exposing himself to hostile grenades and machine-gun fire in order that he might reach and neutralize enemy pillboxes at the base of Mount Suribachi, Corporal Lindberg courageously approached within ten or fifteen yards of the emplacements before discharging his weapon, thereby assuring the annihilation of the enemy and the successful completion of the platoon's mission," read the citation.
The funeral will be held later this week at Fort Snelling Memorial Chapel. Morris Nilsen Funeral Home, in Richfield, is handling funeral arrangements.
Lindberg's service and legacy as the last living flagraiser was the subject of an award-winning
WCCO-TV documentary in 2005.
In memory of Lindberg, WCCO-TV will be airing encore presentations of "The Last Flagraiser" on Sunday, July 1 at 11 a.m. and again on Sunday, July 8 at 11 a.m.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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