U.S. Marine Corps
World War II Lindberg was born and lived in
Grand Forks, North Dakota, when he enlisted in the Marine Corps shortly after the Japanese Navy attack on Pearl Harbor. After completing recruit training, he volunteered for the
Marine Raiders, a special unit of the Marine Corps. Lindberg first saw combat on
Guadalcanal while serving as a member of the 2nd Raider Battalion (
"Carlson's Raiders"), and participated in the
"Long Patrol". He also saw combat with the 2nd Raiders on
Bougainville. In February 1944, the Marine Raider (and
Paramarine) units were disbanded and he returned to the United States. He was reassigned to the newly activated
5th Marine Division at
Camp Pendleton, California. After training at Camp Pendleton, the division was sent to and trained at Camp Tarawa on the Big Island of Hawaii before leaving for Iwo Jima.
Battle of Iwo Jima Lindberg was assigned as a
flamethrower operator in 3rd Platoon, E Company,
2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment,
5th Marine Division. On February 19, 1945, he landed with the fifth assault wave on the southeast beach of Iwo Jima closest to Mount Suribachi, which was the objective of the
28th Marine Regiment. Because of heavy fighting, the base of Mount Suribachi was not reached and surrounded until February 22. On February 23, flamethrower operators Cpl. Lindberg and Pvt. Robert Goode of E Company were members of the 40-man combat patrol which climbed up Mount Suribachi to seize and occupy the crest then raise the Second Battalion's American flag. On March 1, Lindberg was shot in the right forearm by a Japanese sniper and was evacuated off the island. He received the
Silver Star for gallantry in action on Iwo Jima from February 19 to March 1, 1945 (Pvt. Goode was also wounded on March 1 and awarded the Silver Star).
First flag raising photo of the first flag on Mount Suribachi, after it was raised. Left to right: 1st Lt.
Harold G. Schrier (left side of radioman), Pfc.
Raymond Jacobs (radio operator), Sgt.
Henry " Hank" Hansen (soft cap, holding flagstaff), Pvt. Phil Ward (holding lower flagstaff), Platoon Sgt.
Ernest "Boots" Thomas (seated), PhM2c.
John Bradley, USN (holding flagstaff, standing above Ward and Thomas), Pfc.
James Michels (holding
M1 carbine), and Cpl. Charles Lindberg (standing, far right). On February 23, 1945, Lieutenant Colonel
Chandler W. Johnson, commander of the
2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, ordered a platoon-size patrol to climb up the 556-foot Mount Suribachi. First Lieutenant
Harold Schrier, E Company's executive officer, was handed the Second Battalion's American flag from Lt. Colonel Johnson (or the battalion adjutant) measuring 28 by 54 inches (137 by 71 cm) which had been taken from the attack transport on the way to Iwo Jima by First Lieutenant George G. Wells the Second Battalion's adjutant in charge of the battalion's flags. Lt. Schrier was to take a patrol with the flag up the mountain and raise the flag if possible at the summit to signal that Mount Suribachi was captured and the top secure. Captain
Dave Severance, E Company's commander, assembled the remainder of his Third Platoon and other members of the battalion including two Navy
corpsmen and stretcher bearers. At 8:30 a.m., Lt. Schrier started climbing with the patrol up the mountain. Less than an hour later, the patrol, after receiving occasional Japanese sniper fire, reached the rim of the volcano. A brief firefight with the Japanese occurred, Lt. Schrier and his men captured the summit. A section of a Japanese steel pipe was found on the mountain and the battalion's flag Lt. Schrier carried was tied to it by Lt. Schrier, Sgt.
Henry Hansen and Cpl. Lindberg. (Platoon Sergeant
Ernest Thomas was watching inside the group with a grenade in his hand while Pvt. Phil Ward held the bottom end of the pipe horizontally off the ground). The flagstaff was then carried to the highest part on the crater and raised by Lt. Schrier, Platoon Sgt. Thomas, Sgt. Hansen, and Cpl. Lindberg at approximately 10:30 a.m. Seeing the
national colors flying caused loud cheering from the Marines, sailors, and Coast Guardsmen on the beach below and from the men on the ships near and docked at the beach. Due to the strong winds on Mount Suribachi, Sgt. Hansen, Pvt. Ward, and Third Platoon
corpsman John Bradley helped make the flagstaff stay in a vertical position. The men at, around, and holding the flagstaff which included Schrier's radioman
Raymond Jacobs (assigned to patrol from F Company), were photographed several times by Staff Sgt.
Louis R. Lowery, a photographer with
Leatherneck magazine who accompanied the patrol up the mountain. A firefight with some Japanese soldiers took place, an enemy grenade caused Sgt. Lowery to fall down which damaged his camera but not his film. Platoon Sgt. Thomas was killed on March 3 and Sgt. Hansen was killed on March 1.
Second flag raising (second flag is raised as the first is lowered) Lt. Colonel Johnson decided about two hours or more later on after the flag was raised, a larger flag should replace it. The flag was too small to be seen on the other side of the mountain where the Japanese airfields and most of the Japanese troops were located, and the thousands of Marines fighting there needed the inspiration of seeing the flag. While Lindberg was reloading his flamethrower tanks below Mount Suribachi, a 96 by 56 inch flag was obtained from a ship docked on shore and brought up to the top of Mount Suribachi by Pfc.
Rene Gagnon the Second Battalion's runner (messenger) for E Company. At the same time, Sgt.
Michael Strank, Cpl.
Harlon Block, Pfc.
Franklin Sousley, and Pfc.
Ira Hayes from Second Platoon, E Company, were sent to take supplies up to Third Platoon and raise the second flag. Once on top, the flag was attached to another Japanese steel pipe and raised by the four Marines and Pfc.
Harold Schultz and Pfc. Harold Keller, both of whom had gone up Suribachi with the 40-man patrol. At the same time the second flag was raised, the original flag was lowered and taken down the mountain to the battalion adjutant by Pfc. Gagnon. Sgt. Strank and Cpl. Block were killed on March 1. Pfc. Sousley was killed on March 21.
Joe Rosenthal's (
Associated Press) historical
flag-raising photograph of the second flag-raising on Mount Suribachi appeared in Sunday newspapers on February 25, 1945, as the flag-raising on Mount Suribachi. This flag raising was also filmed in color by Marine Sgt.
Bill Genaust (who was killed in action in March) and was used in
newsreels. Other combat photographers with and besides Rosenthal ascended the mountain after the first flag was raised and the mountaintop secured. These photographers including Rosenthal and an army photographer who was assigned to cover Marine amphibious landings for
Yank Magazine, took photos of Marines, corpsmen, and themselves, around both of the flags. The second flag-raisers received tremendous national recognition. The three survivors (two were found out to be incorrectly identified) of the flag raising were called to Washington, D.C., after the battle by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt to participate in a bond tour to raise much needed money to pay for the war. The Marines who captured Mount Suribachi and those who raised the first flag, including Lindberg, generally did not receive the national recognition due them even though the first flag raising was the first to receive some public recognition. == Post-war and later life ==