Summer 2023 Militaria & Collectibles Auction
WWII 3 foot by 5 foot wool 48 Star D-Day flown flag of the USS LST-505, which flew high above the landing ship while US Troops, Tanks, and Equipment stormed Normandy’s Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944. Eyewitness accounts from Sailors aboard the ship recounted that German tracer bullets lit up the sky like a Christmas Tree, with constant artillery and machine gun fire directed at and over the ship in the first several hours of the beach landing. Others recalled bodies floating by the USS LST-505, explosions on the beach, damaged equipment, and being constantly under enemy fire while off-loading. The ship suffered 3 Killed in Action and 14 Wounded on the first day of the invasion. The USS LST-505 would make two round trips to England each day for the next ten days dropping US troops, vehicles, and equipment, and returning hundreds of wounded back to hospitals in England. This flag is riddled with holes from German shrapnel and bullets, and was maintained for safekeeping by the Navy, and then the Rungee International War Flag Museum following the War. The side of the flag is stenciled with the ship. The USS LST-505 would go on to support the invasions of Southern France in August 1944 and Okinawa, Japan in 1945. The USS LST-505 was featured on the front cover of YANK Magazine on July 28, 1944. The flag has additional loops on the top to assist it with staying unfurled while attached to the ship mast. This was from the former Dr. Clarence Rungee Flag Collection and comes with a Flag Heritage Foundation tracking record paper. Dr. Clarence Rungee was born in New Haven, CT and was a veteran of WWI. Following his wartime service, he served as the National Surgeon of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and was the National Historian of the Veterans of World War I. From the 1940’s until his death in 1971, Dr. Rungee amassed a collection of over 600 worldwide flags for his International War Flag Museum. Dr. Rungee did not seek out any ordinary flag, as he specifically wanted those with a notable story or which were flown during a war. Accompanying many of the flags are original transmittal letters or copied records from the various sources adding documented provenance to their historical significance. Following his death, the flags were donated to the Flag Heritage Foundation, where they remained until being deaccessioned to a single collection, largely untouched until now. Examples from this collection include flags flown atop warships at WWII battles such as the D-Day Invasion of Normandy in 1944 and the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. Others were used by Presidents and Royal Sovereigns from various nations around the world, or flew atop State and National Capitol buildings during World Wars or notable events. Of note, Dr., Rungee befriended Admiral Nimitz, who ordered that rather than destroy Naval flown flags, the Navy should send them to Dr. Rungee for his museum. Accompanying this flag is the original circa 1970s Flag Heritage Foundation Vexillological Inventory Form noting the details of the flag and its provenance to the C.R. Rungee collection. Typical of all flags in this collection, the ship it flew on is written on the bottom.
Condition: See Description.
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