Eighth-Grader Helps Debunk Lindbergh Myth

WCCO NEWS ^ | 12-26-2005

[Cagey]

AP) Little Falls, Minn. It has been reported many times that the residents of Little Falls were so angry with hometown hero Charles Lindbergh's comments that the U.S. should stay out of World War II that they painted over his name on the water tower.

The story was part of a PBS documentary about the famous pilot. It was reported in a Pulitzer Prize-winning biography released in 1999.

However, many experts doubt it happened. "I've heard the stories but I've never seen the documentation myself," said Marlene White, president of the Anoka-based Lindbergh Foundation.

There are some newspaper articles from the 1940s that back up that skepticism.

Two years ago, an eighth-grader in St. Paul researching an essay on Lindbergh found the articles from the Little Falls hometown newspapers from 1942 -- a year after Lindbergh made his famous comments during a speech in Des Moines, Iowa.

He was widely criticized for saying: "The three most important groups who have been pressing this country toward war are the British, the Jewish and the Roosevelt administration."

However, the articles from the Little Falls newspapers report that the city still intended to paint Lindbergh's name to the water tower, but that city leaders were having some trouble finding a qualified painter.

"I just think it was a mistake. I don't think anybody made it up on purpose," said Ellen Rice, now a 15, of the water tower story.

One article mentions an unnamed Minneapolis reporter who acknowledged he wrote -- with little evidence -- that Lindbergh's name was removed from the tower because of the city's disdain.

Nonetheless, the story has been repeated for decades.

"It's sort of become legend," said Mary Warner, president of the Charles Weyerhaeuser History Museum in Little Falls, near the home where Lindbergh grew up. "We just keep trying to say, 'No, that's not what happened."'

[kidd]

LOL!
Fox News...We report...You decide
CBS News...We report...You prove that we're right.

[beyond the sea]

CBS News...We report...You prove that we're right.

ROFL

[B4Ranch]

"when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor."

Check your history book. You are off by a continent.

[Dan(9698)]

Charles Lindbergh would have his Air Force Rank reinstated...

He didn't have his rank instated. Rousevelt was very vindictive and refused to let him back in the Army Air Force. He went to work for Henry Ford for the B24s that were built by Ford.

He later went to work for Consolidated Aircraft as a test pilot and consultant for the F4U Corsair fighter.

He went to the South Pacific as a civilian factory rep. He was flying missions as a factory rep and General MacArthur had him go to the Marine and Army Air force units to train pilots for better fuel management. That made the Yammamoto mission possible.

He flew many bombing missions on the Japanese held islands. He shot down one Japanese Zero. Mostly he helped develop and mount bomb racks on fighters. That is why they didn't use B17s in the Pacific.

My wife got me a book of his war time journal. Very interesting reading.

[Cagey]

Are you saying it wasn't carrier based Messerschmidts that hit Pearl?

[A.A. Cunningham]

Chance Encounter with the Lone Eagle

A Marine pilot works closely with Lindbergh on bomb-carrying Corsairs
By Col. Fran Clark, USMC (Ret.)

Above: May 1944: before he went to check out Fran Clark’s outfit, Charles Lindbergh (second from left) flew Corsairs off Emirau Island.
(Photo courtesy of Pat Ranfranz.)

Above: While on Emirau Island, Lindbergh corrected certain F4U problems and established better communications between the Marine Corps and the United Aircraft Co. From here, he flew his first combat missions with the Corps.
(Photo courtesy of Pat Ranfranz.)

Above: Flying a Corsair, Lindbergh takes off from Roi Namur Island with a 1,000-pound bomb between the two fuel tanks.
(Photo by Capt. W.E. Scarborough USN [Ret.] courtesy of John Underwood.)

[LEPEN]

No, they struck us because we cut off their oil supply.

[ko_kyi]

No, they struck us because we cut off their oil supply.

Which we did in response to Japan's refusal to obey League of Nations directives to cease their war of aggression in China.

[higgmeister]

Check your history book. You are off by a continent.

Arcane reference to movie humor that some of us thought
insanely funny in a low key sort of way.

[Fishing-guy]

"He was proven wrong when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor."

I know the Japanese history revisionists are hard at work, but this is too much. LOL.

[higgmeister]

like reagan_fanatic for example.

[weegee]

Without the HAND signed HAND typed letter, all she has is a faxed forgery.

[Cagey]

Interesting information, A.A.. Thanks.

The following link contains some good information on John Mitchell's "Yamamoto Mission". It also contains a list of the 18 Pilots on the flight team.

http://www.acepilots.com/usaaf_mitchell.html

[B4Ranch]

Navy Type 97 Carrier Attack Planes "Kates" made up the majority if I recall correctly. There was some midget submarines that made it to the harbor too.

[B4Ranch]

Okay, I see where you're coming from now.

[solitas]

Flying a Corsair...

Yay! Vought-Sikorsky and Chance Vought Aircraft! Stratford and Bridgeport Connecticut! Yay! (click the pic)

Nutmeg: local-and-proud semi-ping. :D

[shelterguy]

Maybe you need to be put on "Double Secret Probation".

[tarheelswamprat]

"when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor."

Check your history book. You are off by a continent.

"Forget it, he's on a roll!"