Part of Marine Corps history passed on Sunday, June 24 in the Twin Cities. Charles Lindberg was the last survivor of the first Iwo Jima flag raising. The newspaper gave his age as 86. Cpl Lindberg had been active up thru June 9 when he participated in the dedication of the new WWII memorial at the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul. He had been hospitalized the following day, according to news accounts, and apparently remained in the hospital until his death. He spent many years getting history to acknowledge that there had been a flag placed hours before the famous event imortalized by Joe Rosenthal. He had fought his way to the top of Mt. Suribachi with a flamethrower, part of a unit of Marines assembled to reach the top. WCCO TV of Minneapolis put together an excellent story about him several years ago. It was available on DVD from the tv station.

Lowell Johnson