Original Drawings & Model Commentaries:

AIA Drawing # 19
(17 inches X 23 inches)







Charles W. Lindberg: 1920-                                                             Richfield,  Minnesota


Copyright  © 1992-2006  Jim Branscum Art Studio
All Rights Reserved

As I exhibit the original drawings in "Work in Progress"  exhibitions throughout the country,  I have met many individuals of all ages who do not know there were two flag raisings on Iwo Jima.  Prior to my research for this drawing,  I did not know of the two flag raisings.  If I did know there were two events,  I did not put much significance in the second,  thinking those who placed the first flag were those history would remember and were the heroes.  Like many Americans,  my knowledge of the battle of Iwo Jima and the flag raising was limited to general knowledge absorbed from history classes,   documentaries and movies.  As a young boy,   I had seen the movie,  Sands of Iwo Jima,  with John Wayne, more times than I can now remember as my 50th birthday nears.  I learned the movie was nothing like the reality.  The subject of this drawing,  Charles W. Lindberg  (no relation to the aviator),  was not a "Hollywood Marine" as he characterized the "posturing for posterity" by some in the detail for the Marine photographer sent to record the event.

The papers headlined a story of blazing guns and the air thick with bullets,  shells and human anguish as the forty man platoon ascended the hill to place a symbol of success in the battle at the summit of Mt. Suribachi.   The newspapers reported fiction,  not fact.  There was no battle during the platoon's first ascent of Mt. Suribachi.  Platoon Leader, Lt. Schier stated they would have been wiped out if the Japanese had attacked as they climbed the rocky slopes.  The fighting began soon after they raised the flag.   While the flag was an inspiration for the American troops,  it infuriated the Japanese soldiers.  "That's when all hell broke loose,"  Charles Lindberg recalled. 

I was aware of the Pulitzer Prize winning photograph by Joe Rosenthal,  and I had visited the Marine Corps Monument, closely modeled after the Rosenthal photo,  in our nation's Capitol.  I knew that the group of five Marines and a Navy Corpsman depicted in Rosenthal's photograph were proclaimed heroes for planting the flag on Mt. Suribachi.  Having lived in Arizona most of my adult life,  the story of Ira Hayes was very familiar to me.  Yet,  until I began the research for this drawing,  visited with the last surviving member of the first flag raising on Mt. Suribachi and heard hear his first hand account of that historical moment in time,  I did not know the full story.  There were two flag raisings;  while the second flag raising became the "official" event and the second flag raisers were widely known and given hero status;  the first flag raisers continued the Battle of Iwo Jima and,  those who survived Iwo Jima,  the Pacific.  Since that time these "unsung heroes" have been either officially ignored or delegated to a footnote in history. 

Charles W. Lindberg is the last surviving member of the U.S. Marine detail that placed the first American flag on Mt. Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima.  At a time when "uncommon valor was a common virtue,"  24 year old Charles W. Lindberg and thirty-nine other U.S. Marines in his platoon worked their way up the steep volcanic slopes of Mt. Suribachi.  Charles and five other Marines planted the first American Flag at its summit at 10:35 am, February 23, 1945. 

The struggle up the steep mountain slopes and the first placing of the flag was captured by Lou Lowery,  a Marine photographer for Leatherneck Magazine.  The images in the background of his drawing were taken from official photographs by Lowery given to me by Charles Lindberg on our first visit.  To the viewers left,  Charles stands with his flame-thrower.  The next background grouping shows Charles (on right) tying the flag to a water-pipe which was used as the staff to hold the flag above the mountain top for all Marines to see.  It was the first sign that Mt. Suribachi had been captured.  Charles chuckled as he noted,  "The pipe had convenient bullet hole just where it was needed.  The grouping to the right, is the only photo taken of the first flag raising.  The six Marines officially listed as the first flag raisers on Mt. Suribachi are as Follows:

      Lt. Harold Schrier;       Plt. Sgt. Ernest Ivy Thomas;        Sgt. Henry O. Hanson;            Cpl. Charles W. Lindberg;      
                                 Pfc. Jim Michaels (with Carbine in foreground)      &       Pfc.  Louis Charlo  

                    (Note: there is some dispute as to whether Pfc. Louis Charlo is the sixth man in Lou Lowery's photo of the first flag raising. 
                    The sixth Marine's image is only partially visible.)    

Seeing the first flag being raised through binoculars from a boat heading toward the shell pocked beach,  Secretary of the Navy,  James Forrestal,  stated to his escort,  Marine General,  Holland Smith,  "The raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next five hundred years."  For the Marines,  our country and all Americans,  Charles W. Lindberg's participation in a significant moment in history is in no way in dispute.

Of the forty man Marine platoon the made the climb up Mt.  Suribachi to raise the first American Flag on captured Japanese territory,  thirty-six were killed or wounded in subsequent fighting on the island of Iwo Jima.  For his actions on Mt. Suribachi,  Marine Cpl.  Charles W. Lindberg was awarded the Silver Star.

The manner in which Charles W. Lindberg came to be a model for the Aging in America drawing series is a story worthy of telling in this account of his actions on Mt. Suribachi.  I had been sent information of a nursing home resident who claimed to be the last surviving member of the first Iwo Jima flag raisers.  Through the administrator of the facility where he lived,  the gentleman had agreed in advance to pose for a portrait to be included in my series.  One of the project's sponsors,  hearing the news of this historical figure to be included in the series,  offered to sponsor the costs for the trip to visit the man.  Prior to making the trip of many thousands of miles,  I began preliminary research so I would have some basic knowledge of this heroic event before arriving for the interview and photo session. 

I could not find any mention of the man who asserted his participation in the first flag raising event in any history books covering the battle.  It is possible that he was on Mt. Suribachi, since there are disputes concerning the identity of some Marines in various photographs by Lowery before and after the event;  however,  this gentleman was not listed as one of the six Marines who raised the first flag in any account I could find.  I finally contacted the U.S. Marine Corps Museum in San Diego, California and talked to the museum curator.  He informed me that there was only one surviving member of either the first or second group of flag raisers and that the only survivor's name was Charles W. Lindberg.  The curator's next statement made the hairs on my arm stand up and a chill travel down my spine when he said,  "Mr. Lindberg is on the base today to speak to a graduating group of new Marines." 

The curator put me in touch with Charles Lindberg's driver who was assigned to escort him while he was on the base.  I gave a brief description of my project to his driver and my desire to include a portrait of this Marine in my series.  She,  a female Marine Sergeant,  took the information and promised to forward it to Mr. Lindberg.   After his return to his home in Richfield,  Minnesota,  Charles called and agreed to look at any information on the project I would send and would contact me after he had the time to consider my request.  After receiving the materials,   Charles agreed to an interview and to pose for the series.

From my research on the battle for the island,  I felt I had a fair understanding of the history of the flag raising on Iwo Jima.  So I knew in meeting Charles Lindberg,  I was going to meet with an important participant in one of our nation's most historic moments.   My son,  an active duty Marine serving in Okinawa, Japan,  told me of the high esteem  the United States Marine Corps holds Charles W. Lindberg in recognition of his actions on Mt. Suribachi.  Charles met with me at his home in Richfield,  to give me an interview and to pose in his backyard for his portrait drawing.   The stature of the 24 year old Marine is still seen in the relaxed but ready pose of Charles fifty years later. 

The Rosenthal depiction was taken of the second flag raising at approximately 2:30 in the afternoon.   I have even heard and read that the second flag raising was a "staged" reenactment of the original event which had occurred four hours earlier.  Some accounts report, "It was staged for publicity and to aid in the domestic war effort."  Charles and my research dispute these facts.   The first flag,  was a small flag and there were concerns that the small flag might be taken as a souvenir.  Also,  being small,  the first flag could only be seen,  with effort,  from the landing zone.  There was also concerns that all combatants,  including the Japanese soldiers who were still fanatically defending their posts,  could not see the smaller flag.  While giving American forces heart,  it would be demoralizing to the Japanese soldiers.  Battalion Commander,   Lt. Col.  Chandler Johnson,  ordered a 96 X 56 inch flag found in the stores of a landing craft, LST 779,  to be taken up Mt. Suribachi to replace the original flag.   Though not particularly important at the time,  the large flag had come from Pearl Harbor.

On February 23, 1945,  I was still in my mother's womb.  While I developed in my place of safety,  six U.S. Marines climbed to the top of Mt. Suribachi and placed the first American flag at its summit.  Thousands of other American servicemen had already given their lives to reach this point in the invasion of Iwo Jima and many more would be giving their lives before the island was secured.  Those who fought and won the battle of the island,  those who died and those who survived,  made their sacrifices for the future of all Americans,  even those yet to be born.  The freedoms won fifty years ago for every American citizen alive today was provided by the heroes of Iwo Jima and all the battles of World War II.  As the memories of those events fade in the public mind,  the debt we collectively owe to this generation of Americans is also being forgotten;  however,  the debt owed to this generation cannot be diminished by time nor can we default on repayment for their service to America.

To learn the rest of the story of Iwo Jima,  I recommend the same book that Charles Lindberg recommended to me,  IWO JIMA Monuments,  Memories and the American Hero,  by Karal Ann Marling and John Wetenhall.   

Postscript:   Charles honored me and this project by posing for the series.  As a result of his generosity,  his drawing was seen by President Clinton when I sent materials concerning the exhibition for review prior to the AIA project's 1995 White House Conference on Aging exhibition.  I received a call from the White House and was asked to bring Mr. Lindberg to the White House Conference on Aging so the President could recognize his action on Iwo Jima.  To the left is the Official White House Photograph of Charles W. Lindberg and President Clinton in a private meeting after the President's public address.   Fifty years and two months after climbing Mt. Suribachi to plant the first American Flag on captured Japanese territory,  Charles W. Lindberg received his first official recognition from a sitting U.S. President. 

I am honored to have played a small role in that meeting.