Original Item: Only One Lot Available. This is an excellent four-piece American military veteran autograph grouping representing several major chapters of U.S. military history during WWII and the early Cold War. The group contains the signatures of General Matthew B. Ridgway, Doolittle Raider Richard E. Cole, Marine Corporal Charles W. Lindberg of the first flag raising on Iwo Jima, and Eighth Air Force fighter pilot Walter J. Konantz.

The grouping consists of a large signed sheet dated 1991 by General Ridgway and three later photographic reproductions of historic WWII subjects bearing handwritten veteran signatures and inscriptions. The photographs themselves should be understood as commemorative reproductions rather than wartime-vintage prints; their principal collectible significance is in the original handwritten signatures and their direct association with the veterans represented.

Included are:

• General Matthew B. Ridgway signed sheet, dated July 17, 1991.
• Richard E. Cole signed reproduction of the well-known photograph showing Doolittle Raid Crew No. 1 and Chinese officials after the April 18, 1942 mission.
• Charles W. Lindberg signed photograph of the first flag raising atop Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945, complete with a detailed caption on the reverse.
• Major Walter J. Konantz signed WWII pilot portrait, inscribed for the 55th Fighter Group, Eighth Air Force.

General Matthew B. Ridgway

The large sheet is boldly signed in dark ink and dated:

M. B. Ridgway
Gen. U.S. Army (Ret)
17 July 91

The handwriting is consistent with the identification as General Matthew Bunker Ridgway, one of the most important American Army commanders of WWII and the Korean War.

Matthew B. Ridgway had one of the most extensive combat-command careers of any senior U.S. Army officer of his generation. A 1917 graduate of West Point, he commanded the 82nd Airborne Division during WWII after its conversion from infantry to airborne status. Under Ridgway, the division participated in airborne and ground operations in Sicily, Italy, and Normandy. He subsequently commanded the XVIII Airborne Corps during the campaigns in northwest Europe, including operations associated with Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge.

His career became equally significant during the Korean War. Following the death of Lieutenant General Walton H. Walker in December 1950, Ridgway assumed command of the U.S. Eighth Army at a particularly difficult stage of the conflict. He later succeeded General Douglas MacArthur as Commander in Chief of the Far East Command and United Nations Command, became Supreme Allied Commander Europe, and finally served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1953 until 1955.

The July 17, 1991 date beneath the signature places this autograph late in Ridgway's retirement, only two years before his death in 1993. Unlike the photographic pieces in the grouping, this is a straightforward signed sheet with his retired rank included directly beneath his name.

Corporal Charles W. Lindberg - First Iwo Jima Flag Raising

The photograph depicts the first American flag being raised atop Mount Suribachi and is prominently signed:

Charles W. Lindberg
1st Flag Raiser, Iwo Jima
Feb. 23, 1945, 10:30 A.M.

This is Charles Willard Lindberg, not to be confused with aviator Charles A. Lindbergh. Lindberg was a Marine corporal and flamethrower operator who participated in the first Mount Suribachi flag raising on February 23, 1945. The Marine Corps documents his participation and his subsequent award of the Silver Star for his combat service on Iwo Jima.

The reverse carries an extensive period-style identification caption which reads:

First Flag Raising atop Mt. Suribachi, Feb. 23, 1945. SGt. Hansen[without helmet], Sgt. Hansen[seated by flagpole], 1st Lt. Schrier[hand on pole behind Thomas], Cpl. Lindberg[standing on right], and Pfc. Michels[on guard with carbine]. Out of the 40 man platoon that made the climb up Suribachi and raised the first American Flag on Japanese Home territory, 36 were killed or wounded in the subsequent fighting on Iwo Jima.

The transcription above preserves the wording exactly as it appears on the piece, including the repeated identification of “Hansen.” Current Marine Corps historical research differs from portions of this older caption, as discussed below.

The Lindberg photograph is especially interesting because it represents the flag raising that preceded Joe Rosenthal's far more famous photograph later that same day.

On the morning of February 23, 1945, First Lieutenant Harold G. Schrier led a reinforced patrol from 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines to the summit of Mount Suribachi. Leatherneck photographer Staff Sergeant Louis R. Lowery accompanied the patrol and documented the first flag-raising sequence. The first flag was raised at approximately 10:20 a.m. according to the Marine Corps' detailed historical review, although Lindberg himself regularly inscribed commemorative photographs with the time 10:30 A.M., as he has done on this example.

Lindberg was then a 24-year-old corporal serving with Company E, 28th Marines, 5th Marine Division. He carried a flamethrower during the Iwo Jima fighting and had already seen combat in the Pacific before the campaign. His Silver Star citation recognized his repeated exposure to enemy fire while attacking fortified positions around the base of Suribachi. He remained in action until March 1, when he was wounded and evacuated.

The larger and now internationally famous flag was raised later on February 23 as a replacement. Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal captured that second event. Because Rosenthal's photograph became so widely reproduced, the earlier Lowery photographs and the men involved in the first flag raising were for many years much less familiar to the general public.

The casualty statement on the reverse of this photograph is also supported by published U.S. government historical material: of the approximately 40-man patrol associated with the first flag raising, 36 were killed or wounded during the subsequent fighting on Iwo Jima.

There is one important historical qualification concerning the older reverse caption. The caption identifies Hansen twice and associates PFC Michels directly with the raising. Later Marine Corps investigations revisited the photographic record in considerable detail. The Marine Corps' revised findings identify the six individuals directly involved in the first raising as 1st Lt. Harold G. Schrier, PltSgt Ernest I. Thomas Jr., Sgt. Henry O. Hansen, Pharmacist's Mate Second Class John H. Bradley, Cpl. Charles W. Lindberg, and Pvt. Philip L. Ward. The older caption has therefore been retained and transcribed exactly as found on the photograph rather than silently corrected.

Richard E. Cole - Doolittle Raider

The group photograph bears a large gold-colored signature which appears to read:

R E Cole

This identifies Richard Eugene “Dick” Cole, who served as Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle's copilot aboard the lead B-25 Mitchell during the April 18, 1942 Doolittle Raid.

The photograph itself is a reproduction of a documented official U.S. Army Air Forces image taken in China after the raid. The Naval History and Heritage Command catalogs the original as NH 97502, with a duplicate National Archives identification of 208-N-9092-P. It shows Doolittle Raid Crew No. 1 together with Chinese officials who assisted the Americans after their arrival in China.

Richard E. Cole was a member of Crew No. 1 of the Doolittle Raid. The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force identifies the crew of B-25B serial number 40-2344 as Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle, pilot; Lieutenant Richard E. Cole, copilot; Lieutenant Henry A. Potter, navigator; Staff Sergeant Fred A. Braemer, bombardier; and Staff Sergeant Paul J. Leonard, flight engineer/gunner. Their assigned target was Tokyo.

On April 18, 1942, sixteen B-25 Mitchell bombers launched from USS Hornet for the first American air attack against the Japanese home islands. The operation came only months after Pearl Harbor and held considerable psychological importance for the United States despite causing comparatively limited material damage. The aircraft lacked sufficient fuel to return to the carrier; most crews continued toward China following the attack, where the majority were forced to abandon or crash-land their aircraft.

The photograph included here is particularly appropriate for Cole's signature because it documents the immediate aftermath of that mission. The official NHHC description identifies it as having been taken in China after the April 18 attack, with Doolittle, members of Crew No. 1, and Chinese officials gathered together.

Cole continued his military career after the raid and eventually retired as a lieutenant colonel. He became the last surviving Doolittle Raider, dying on April 9, 2019 at the age of 103.

Major Walter J. Konantz - 55th Fighter Group, Eighth Air Force

The aviation portrait carries the following handwritten inscription:

Major (Ret)
Walter J. Konantz
55th
Ftr. Gp.  8th AF

The correct identification is Walter J. Konantz, a WWII fighter pilot of the 338th Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, Eighth Air Force. A surviving official USAAF encounter report dated September 11, 1944 identifies 2nd Lieutenant Walter J. Konantz by name and unit and records his claim for the destruction of a Messerschmitt Me 109 during a bomber-escort mission to Ruhland, Germany.

Walter J. Konantz served with the 338th Fighter Squadron of the 55th Fighter Group, one of the Eighth Air Force fighter organizations operating from England against German forces in Europe.

The 55th Fighter Group arrived in England during August and September 1943 and began combat operations with the P-38 Lightning that October. In July 1944, the group converted to the P-51 Mustang. Its principal task was long-range bomber escort, protecting B-17 and B-24 formations striking industrial targets, transportation centers, airfields, and other objectives across occupied Europe and Germany. The group also carried out fighter sweeps, ground attacks, and support operations associated with the Allied advance across Europe.

Konantz can be documented particularly well through a surviving combat report from September 11, 1944. Flying as Blue 2 during an escort mission toward Ruhland, he encountered German fighters south of Meiningen. His report records pursuing an Me 109 in a high-speed dive; during the chase the opposing fighter suffered structural failure and crashed, and Konantz submitted a claim for one aircraft destroyed. The report is signed in transcription as:

WALTER J. KONANTZ, 2nd LT., Air Corps

and identifies his organization as the 338th Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group.

The later autograph on the photograph appropriately records his retired rank as Major together with the abbreviations 55th Ftr. Gp. / 8th AF, preserving in his own hand the wartime organization with which he served.