Fifty-six years ago Charles W. Lindberg and five other Marines climbed through Iwo Jima and raised the first American flag on Japanese land. It was Feb. 23, 1945 and 110,000 Marines had struggled up the deeply sanded coast of Iwo Jima Island. Soldiers climbed to the base of Mount Suribachi, a 550-foot volcanic cone from which bombs and gunfire hailed. “To operate in this sand you had to be a magician,” Lindberg said. “For every step forward you fell a half a step back.” Despite many casualties, the men surrounded Mount Suribachi. About 22,000 Japanese soldiers were hidden in a network of caves and tunnels inside the mountain. Lindberg’s commander gave the group their orders and handed them an American flag. “If you get to the top, raise it,” he said. Lindberg carried their best weapon, a 75-pound flamethrower. The group made their way to the top without any enemy encounters. “I was surprised that we made it all the way to the top with no resistance since there was so much trouble getting to the mountain,” Lindberg said. They put the flag on top of the mountain where the troops could see it from down below. “The troops started to cheer… I’ll never forget that,” Lindberg said. As they were cheering, the Japanese soldiers could be seen inside a cave. They wouldn’t come out, though, so the Americans used the flamethrower. Seventy-two Japanese soldiers died. Lindberg didn’t know it at the time, but as his group trekked down the mountain the commander had another group climb up and replace their flag with a larger one. It was replaced because the commander thought someone might try to take it as a souvenir and a bigger flag would be easier to see and help boost the troops’ morale. This, the second flag-raising, is depicted in a famous photograph by Joe Rosenthal after which the famous monument was modelled. In fact, the first flag-raisers weren’t recognized for a long time. “I kept talking about it and people wouldn’t believe me,” Lindberg said. He and two others from the group went to Washington, D.C., for a memorial and weren’t even mentioned. It wasn’t until the third time Lindberg went to Washington, D.C., that the first group was recognized. Lindberg and his wife Vi were invited back to Iwo Jima in 1995 to commemorate his contribution. They drove up the mountain but didn’t get to spend much time there because they were hurried down to hear speakers. “It even cost us $75 to get on the island,” Lindberg said. “The first time it didn’t cost me nothing,” he joked. During his return visit, he tripped and fell, his arms plunging into the sand. When he got up his arm was bleeding. The first time he was there he had been shot in the other arm. “I told them I think they should give me another Purple Heart,” he quipped. At age 83, Lindberg is the last living member of the first group to raise the flag at Iwo Jima. Even though he and the other men in the first group of flag raisers finally received their due credit, most people just remember the photo of the second group. “People say, ‘Well, if there wasn’t hype about the second [flag raising] there wouldn’t have been a first,’” Lindberg said.
Last living flag carrier at Iwo Jima shares his tale
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