VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — People say pictures are worth a thousand words, but the pictures in a binder in Todd Lindbergh's Virginia Beach home may be worth a lot more than that.
They're World War II photos, including some from D-Day. May 6, 2024, marks the 80th anniversary of the historic event.
"I ended up inheriting these from a friend of mine that passed away that was a World War II collector," Lindbergh said about the photos. "He left me a really big collection."
In all, there are about 150 photos.
“After he passed away, going through his stuff, I found these photographs," said Lindbergh.
He's tried to have them appraised but hasn't had much luck.
“I think one guy offered me $20 for them," Lindbergh said. "He said, ‘Oh, those ain’t nothing. Those are just old Signal Corps photos.’ I said okay, but I didn’t listen to what he said. I decided to research them and check them out. Because as I looked at them, I looked on the backs and there’s a story written on each one in the back.”
One story he read explains that the photograph is of a soldier painting white crosses to be used at an American military cemetery in France.
“I plan on doing a series of paintings now. I don’t know if you can see that one behind me," Lindbergh said, gesturing to a photo hanging on the wall behind him as he sat on his couch. "I did that one of my grandmother. It’s in black and white. I plan on doing the same thing with these. I’m going to probably pick three of my favorite ones.”
He's not opposed to sharing the photos.
“What I’d like to maybe do with these photos is if there’s a museum or someplace that wants to show them off or do an exhibition, I’d be more than willing to loan them out to share them with the public and let everybody see them," said Lindbergh. "They're heroes, you know? How everything is great today is because of these guys.”
He hopes to have the three murals he plans to paint painted within the next year.
