[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 13]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 18974]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO MR. CHARLES LINDBERG

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. KEITH ELLISON

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 12, 2007

  Mr. ELLISON. Madam Speaker, today I would like to pay tribute to Mr. 
Charles Lindberg, an honorable soldier and citizen, a great Minnesotan 
and American. Mr. Lindberg passed away on June 24, at the age of 86, 
the last surviving member of the squad who raised the original flag on 
a mountaintop during the Battle of Iwo Jima.
  Charles Lindberg, with five other men, climbed his way to the top of 
Mount Suribachi during the morning of February 23, 1945. He dodged 
enemy fire, engaged enemy pillboxes and for his valor and bravery was 
awarded the Silver Star. At the foot of the mountain he repeatedly 
exposed himself to machinegun fire and hand grenades, almost surprised 
to make it to the top. Years later he would express wonder for merely 
having survived the day, which saw some of the most intense fighting of 
the war: ``We thought it would be a slaughterhouse up on Suribachi, I 
still don't understand why we were not attacked.''
  It wasn't planned ahead of time, they hadn't been ordered to do it; 
but after a long, arduous climb, during a brief reprise in the gunfire, 
two members of Lindberg's squad noticed a long pipe up on top of the 
mountain--and it just so happened that one of them was carrying a flag. 
They scoured the mountaintop for the highest point, and raised the 
Stars and Stripes up over the island--the first American flag to make 
it on Japanese soil. Lindberg would later recall the reaction of the 
American forces that day, lamenting how ``down below, the troops 
started to cheer, the ships' whistles went off, it was just something 
that you would never forget.''
  As such moments always seem, the peace and celebration was too soon 
shattered. Enemy troops began emerging from their caves, and Lindberg's 
squad continued the fight. Three of the six men wouldn't survive to see 
the photographs taken on the mountaintop that morning. Lindberg himself 
survived a gunshot wound through the arm a week later, for which he 
received a purple heart. When he was discharged from the Marines he 
went home to South Dakota, and in 1951 moved to Richfield, MN, to 
become an electrician. He spent his life speaking to school groups and 
veterans, ensuring that the story of his fallen comrades lives on in 
memory as an illustration of the price we pay for our democracy.
  Madam Speaker, I am honored and humbled in recognizing Mr. Charles 
Lindberg in the event of his passing, and as a Minnesotan, proud to 
claim such an illustrious American as one of our own. Charles, on 
behalf of a grateful nation, I thank you.

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