Charles W. Lindberg, one of the U.S. Marines who raised the first American flag over Iwo Jima during World War II, has died. He was 86.

Lindberg, who died Sunday in Edina, Minn., spent years explaining that it was his patrol, not the one in the famous Associated Press photograph by Joe Rosenthal, that raised the first flag there.

On Feb. 23, 1945, Lindberg and five other Marines fought their way to the top of Iwo Jima’s Mount Suribachi. He was awarded the Silver Star for bravery.

“Two of our men found this big, long pipe there,” he said in 2003. “We tied the flag to it, took it to the highest spot we could find and we raised it. Down below, the troops started to cheer, the ship’s whistles went off - it was just something that you would never forget,” he said.

The moment was captured by Sgt. Lou Lowery, a photographer from the Marine Corps.

By Lindberg’s account, his commander ordered the first flag replaced and safeguarded because he worried that someone would take it as a souvenir. Lindberg was back in combat when six men raised the second, larger flag about four hours later.

Rosenthal’s photo of the second flag-raising became one of the most enduring images of the war and the model for the U.S. Marine Corps memorial.