Minn. Memorial Honoring WWII Hero, an IBEW Member, OpensMay 27, 2013 Front and center of a new Memorial Day dedication in Minnesota is an IBEW member and one of the once-anonymous Marines who were the first to raise the American flag on Iwo Jima.
The Honoring All Veterans Memorial will open on Memorial Day in Richfield, Minn., where Lindberg lived for many years. Designed to honor veterans of every service, the centerpiece is a bust of the former Marine. Lindberg was part of the platoon that captured Mt. Suribachi and one of six marines to raise an American flag at the peak. The IBEW Journal wrote in 2001:
Wounded in the arm, Lindberg was awarded the Silver Star, “for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States.” An IBEW member for more than 50 years, Lindberg was there for the memorial’s groundbreaking ceremony in 2007, but died a few weeks later. Brian Peterson, a retired member of Local 292, said that when a local artist, Travis Gorshe, was commissioned to build a monument in Richfield’s Veterans Park, Lindberg quickly became the focal point of the plans. “The first raisers were never really recognized,” said Peterson, who has been on the memorial’s board since 2005. “It was important to us that we did.” Construction has been steady but slow. “Until this year, it had still been mostly a vision,” Peterson said. But with the finishing touches to the landscaping, the memorial is now ready, and this Memorial Day, Peterson says he expects a large crowd to walk beneath the bronze statue of Lindberg and read the veterans’ names carved into the 10 granite columns. “This is a place to honor all veterans, not just those who died in battle or who fought in World War II,” Peterson said. “This is a place for the veterans from the past and the ones who are serving today. This is their place too.”
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