A fun thing about being in the flag business is seeing our customers’ found flags and helping them decipher their origination.
A customer found the above flag in her church closet and emailed us asking if we knew its history. At first glance I thought it might be a cavalry flag from the Civil War. My co-worker, Arwen, thought it might be a service flag. Turns out, she was right.
Consult the Experts
We sent the pic off to the experts, who consulted vexillologist, Jim Ferrigan. Here is his edited answer:
- It appears to be a version of the “Service Flag.” Often called the “Blue Star Flag” or the “Blue Star Banner” or the “Son in Service Flag.” They were introduced in WWI and became very popular during WWII and again today.
- The symbolism is quite simple, a single blue, 5 five-point star for each person serving in the military. Should that person fall while in service the star was changed to gold – hence the term “Gold Star Families.”
- The image seems to be a large natural fiber flag/banner (likely cotton sheeting) for an institution (likely a United Methodist Church) that had 20 individuals from its congregation serving in the military in WWI or WWII or perhaps both.
- The twenty stars seem to have been cut from dark blue cotton sheeting and locally stitched, two-points up, upon need, to the white center rectangle with a single needle machine as was common with such flags as they were often altered during their useful lifetimes. And this flag seems to have been oriented for vertical display.
- These service flags are still on the books and are an official flag of the Department of Defense.
- At the time, they were widely made by everyone and used in homes, business establishments, churches, factories, service clubs and government agencies.
And there you have it. Just a typical day at FlagandBanner.com, chocked full of Fun Flag Facts.
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