Iwo Jima Flag Raiser Lindberg Dies at 86

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Iwo Jima Flag Raiser Lindberg Dies at 86
By CHRIS WILLIAMS
Associated Press Writer

June 25, 2007, 11:50 AM EDT

RICHFIELD, Minn. -- Charles W. Lindberg, one of the U.S. Marines
who raised the first American flag over Iwo Jima during World War II,
has died. He was 86.

Lindberg died Sunday at Fairview Southdale hospital in the Minneapolis
suburb of Edina, said John Pose, director of the Morris Nilsen Funeral
Home in Richfield, which is handling Lindberg's funeral.

Lindberg spent decades explaining that it was his patrol, not the one
captured in the famous Associated Press photograph by Joe Rosenthal,
that raised the first flag as U.S. forces fought to take the Japanese
island.

In the late morning of Feb. 23, 1945, Lindberg fired his flame-thrower
into enemy pillboxes at the base of Mount Suribachi and then joined
five other Marines fighting their way to the top. He was awarded the
Silver Star for bravery.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-obit-lindberg,0,6826615.story

[Vidar]

1. Thank you, Mr. Lindberg & rest in peace.

[Wcross]

2. Rest in peace Marine. n/t

[HereSince1628]

3. Say hello to Ira Hayes for me when you see him Charlie.

[guitar man]

4. Semper Fi

and RIP Marine....OOH RAH!!

:patriot:

[Uncle Joe]

5. If anyone hasn't seen "Flags of our Fathers", I highly recommend it.

I haven't seen "Letters from Iwo Jima" yet but plan on viewing it next.

Semper Fi, Charles Lindberg:patriot:

[Ekirh]

10. Definitely watch Letters. .

Prefer it over Flags (Nothing against Flags... great film as well)

But on point with this thread


rest in peace Charles Lindberg, your service is appreciated and will never be forgotten.

[edbermac]

6. What a contrast; real heroes and our own AWOL Gomer Pyle.

The only injury this clown risked was getting a hemmorhoid.

[Wcross]

7. How dare you insult......

Gomer Pyle!

[Odin2005]

8. RIP

Semper Fi :patriot:

[dflprincess]

9. Here's a link to the story in the Minneapolis paper

http://www.startribune.com/466/story/1266697.html

EDINA — Charles W. Lindberg, the last survivor of the six U.S. Marines who raised the first American flag over Iwo Jima during World War II, has died. He was 86. Lindberg died Sunday at Fairview Southdale hospital in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina, said John Pose, director of the Morris Nilsen Funderal Home in Richfield, which is handling Lindberg's funeral.

By Lindberg's account, his commander ordered the first flag replaced and safeguarded because he worried it would be taken by someone as a souvenir. His patrol was back in combat, crawling through the black volcanic rock of the island, when a group of five Marines and a Navy hospital corpsman raised a second, larger flag about four hours later.

Rosenthal's photo of the second flag-raising became one of the most enduring images of the war and the model for the U.S. Marine Corps memorial in Washington.

Official recognition eluded him, too. In 1954, 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.

Only a few weeks ago, on Memorial Day, Lindberg was part of a groundbreaking for the Honoring All Veterans memorial — which include a bronze bust of the war hero — in Richfield. He had recently been active in various war memorials around the state, said Travis Gorshe, who organized the Richfield event.

The Minnesota Legislature passed a resolution in Lindberg's honor in 1995. His face appears on a huge mural in Long Prairie of the battle for Iwo Jima, and his likeness is etched into the black granite walls of Soldiers Field in Rochester.

[Centered]

11. Thank you

Rest In Peace Sir... and thank you for everything you did for us!

[davepc]

12. The Free World owes a debt to these men who fought Fascism

RIP

[SayWhatYo]

13. How was fighting the Japanese considered fighting fascism?

The war in Europe may have been justified, but I have a hard time justifying the war against the Japanese.

[Alexander]

14. The Japanese committed atrocities and war crimes...

that rivaled those of the Nazis.

Would you rather have lived under the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere"?

[Exiled in America]

25. So did we.

The allies had their share of unspeakable atrocities.

*cough* Dresden.

"All wars are crimes."

[davepc]

15. Tojo was a swell guy, just ask the Chineese and Koreans.

And last I checked -- conspiracy theories about FDR LIHOP aside-- the Japanese attacked the United States first.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militarism-Socialism_in_Showa_Japan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics_in_Showa_Japan

[SayWhatYo]

16. But you're forgetting about the reasons why they attacked.

Had the US not attempted to starve the Japanese then they would not have attacked the US. As for the atrocities, the US and England were just as bad, think Dresden, Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

[davepc]

17. How dare FDR stop fuling the Japanese war machine after the rape of Nanking

We should of just given them all the oil they needed to continue their Sino conquest.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Thothmes]

21. Pearl

Exactly how did we "blockade" their shipping.The last time I checked a map Pearl Harbor was about 8,000 miles from the Japanese Home Islands. Hardly close in anyones terms. Our Asiatic fleet consited of a few cruisers and destroyers, no capital ships. The squadron had operated in the Asian waters for a decades before the war.

[SayWhatYo]

22. The US did a few things...

First, they put an embargo on Japan. Second, they used the Philippines to stop Japanese shipping. Thirdly, they disallowed the Japanese to use the Panama Canal.

[Thothmes]

32. A few things

We embargoed the raw materials necessary for Japanese military production. Exactly how did we use the Philippines to stop Japanese shipping. Do you have a source for us disallowing the Japanese to use the Panama Canal

[dflprincess]

23. I've never bought that FDR knew the attack on Pearl was coming

if only because he wouldn't have been dumb enough to put so many ships at risk. People forget that the Pacific war did not go so well for the U.S. at first and there was a real possibility that Japan could win it. Unlike the idiot currently in the White House, Roosevelt would not have started a war the U.S. could lose - and don't forget his own sons joined the service and were involved in combat (also unlike the current resident).

[DemocratSinceBirth]

31. America Was Not The Superpowe Then It Is Now

It wasn't "itching" to get into a war and had to be forced into it.. The Japanese obliged...

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SayWhatYo]

18. .

.

[Parche]

20. Pearl Harbor

Let me see....what happened at Pearl Harbor....or Wake Island.....or New Guinea....or Guam....or Truk Island.............and you cant justify the war against Japan?

[minkyboodle]

26. you have to be kidding me

... seriously

[SayWhatYo]

28. Well only about 10% kidding...

I stick by what I said with the war in the pacific not being about fighting fascism. The war in the pacific was motivated mostly by commercial interests. Sure, the Japanese committed atrocities(but so did the allies), however, that is not why the US "instigated" the Japanese into an attack. The US did it to protect it's commercial interests in the pacific, thus the ultimate reason for all the deaths were in the name of money.

This isn't a jab soley at the US either. I believe that every other country is the same way.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

30. Maybe The Russians Committed Wholesale Rape But Not The American GIs

Filipino mothers smeared feces on their daughters to make them less attractive to the Japanese mauraders... The Japanese also kidnapped Korean women and forced them to be prostitutes or "comfort women" for the Imperial Army... They also mistreated captured American and Filipino GI after promising them humane treatment if they surrendered...

They also were incredibly racist toward other Asians...

My fiance is from the Phillipines... They have mended their fences with Japan as did we... Her sister in law is Japanese...That being said I'm glad we stood shoulder to shoulder with the Filipinos and kicked their asses out of the Phillipines...

[brentspeak]

33. I think that the Japanese should have been left alone to rape and pillage the Far East

Don't you? The nerve of the USA to do something about that!

:sarcasm:

p.s.

Are you off your freaking rocker?????

[MikeDuffy]

24. Iwo To now, not

Iwo Jima -- back to its original name before WWII. Iwo Jima came from a mistake made by some Japanese navy officers during WWII and which stuck afterwards until recently.

[SayWhatYo]

27. I doubt many people will stop the usage of Iwo Jima

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if within a couple years the 'new'(errr old) name is tossed out again.