Identification Flag

[Perry Floyd]

no

[George Stimson]

Mine does.

[Perry Floyd]

So the red is actually 2 halfs? Neat....
Since talking to some older collectors many have surfaced of different sizes, speaking of veteran puchased..I'm tryinmg to exclude dealer purchased for the moment..it a gray are and fanatasy area to some but I'm trying to reasearch and see if any other "gray-fantasy area" piece has this much direct vet linkage..

[George Stimson]

Just FYI

I got mine several years ago from Mohawk Arms.

[Jeff Ashenfelter]

So the red is actually 2 halfs? Neat....
Since talking to some older collectors many have surfaced of different sizes, speaking of veteran puchased..I'm tryinmg to exclude dealer purchased for the moment..it a gray are and fanatasy area to some but I'm trying to reasearch and see if any other "gray-fantasy area" piece has this much direct vet linkage..

Perry,
Your flag looks fine to me. I have also had these that were vet acquired. The other two items also look good. (keep your chin up) Jeff A

[Paul V]

Id Flag!

I have had very big ones and they did make them and I have seen pics
and never gave it a big thought!


Many were found in storage and were never used!


Paul V.


PVON

[Lonewolf]

Baltic flag

-Perry common concensus on these flags from my experience has been that these were never issued and these were taken out of a warehouse.I myself have wondered if these weren't souveniers made for the GI made from period cloth .Think about it, these would a much more politically correct souvenier and that would be part of the appeal.-just another theory.

[Perry Floyd]

Then what would be the Theory to explain why so many were sent home by the veterans before the war ended? If you exclude the "all were lieing factor" what logical explanation is left?

It comes down to two things which I don't see how it can be disputed..
They all were lieing, the vets and the buyers..

Or they're real..

I've went through every scenerio, these two are what your left with...each collector must decide himself which he chooses to believe..

[George Stimson]

Ah, for the good old days!

"Politically correct" wasn't even a concept in 1945.

[Lonewolf]

George your right, maybe a poor choice of words on my part.-I have one of these flags as well ,picked it up at a vets estate auction over in Wisconsin.With the passing of many WWII vets and fading memories I'm sure to collect any hard data on where they picked up these up would be tough these days.In any case there a nice departure from the standard political flag.

[Calvin Hall]

Sorry for showing up late to this thread. This topic was also discussed at the German-Daggers.com forum way back when. Click on the link to following the discussion...

ID Flag

Calvin

[Calvin Hall]

Here is another one of these so-called 'Vehicle Identification' flags. This one is still in the possession of a 36th ID vet, who is seen here holding the flag.

The vet acquired this one in northern Italy. They cleared out a house and found the flag in a vehicle parked outside. It was laying in the back seat.

Like the others that we have seen, it is in near mint condtion.

[Gregory Koepp]

well i have been around alot of collectors who collect tanks/trucks and so on and even went to a couple restoring companys, where some worked.
i have asked them about the ID flag's and they say the same:

they were made, but never used. there is not one photo that they have collected or seen that had one in it, so as you know they only use items that have a background and won't use it on any of their items.

i also was told these were made AFTER the war, shortly after it??

so really til i find or see a photo of one in use i will not buy one, but if it fell into my lap i'd take it
you know with all the photos out there with vet's holding flags up where they were in the war, and even in photo albums you never see one??? why??
also why arn't any in any books? you won't find a photo of one in WAR BOOTIE.

greg

[Ralph Heinz]

Flag

Perry,

I'm one of those "senior" collectors that purchased an identification flag exactly like yours from a veteran but I did so in the late 1950s and I have a photo of it lying on a shelf in my collection room with some daggers lying on it taken by a local newspaper back then doing an article about my WWII German collection. I bought that flag from a veteran in Willowick, Ohio who answered a newspaper ad of mine. I first bought a P.38 in a hardshell Luger holster from him that he'd taken from an SS officer at Arnhem for $20. I asked if he had anything else and he then brought out the flag and I gave him $4 for it. At that time those were fair prices with Lugers going for more: $40. Japanese rifles ran from $4 to $10. I paid $40 at a gun show for a super nice 98k dated 1938 with a walnut stock and the original sling. Those were the days. Today people pay nearly as much for their morning latte as I made then for a whole day as a caddy earning money to buy more war souvenirs.

Those were his two war souvenirs and typical of many vets I met back then, he had a young family and needed money for them more than he needed war souvenirs. Nobody made that flag as a fake -- this guy brought it back from the war. The fact that I too have never seen a wartime photo of one in use doesn't mean they are somehow a fantasy item. I think they probably came from a liberated warehouse where everyone who wanted one took one as a souvenir. That sort of thing was very common at war's end. Your flag is good.

[Perry Floyd]

Thanks Ralph, I've heard stories just like yours from numerous senior collectors that ran ads long ago in the "golden era". Thanks for posting the picture of the vet and his flag Calvin. I bet its identical to mine even in the small details..

I have no doubt whatsoever that my flag is real. Just like the stories here many veterans brought back these flags from WWII..

There can be only two possiblities, all the collectors/pickers/dealers that have purchased these flags from veterans or their immediate family, and the actual stories of the veterans still living with this flag in their possession, across the U.S.,, have all conspired to lie about the same single piece.
or...
they are real and they were telling you the truth..

How could it be any other way but the two scenerios above? Each collector will have to decide what he believes in, I know what I believe..