Lot 645

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Description:

82ND AIRPORNE, 505TH P.I.R. CAPTURED NAZI FLAG
A rare wartime souvenir, a Nazi flag captured by a member of the 505th Parachute Infantry regiment of the 82nd Airborne, a soldier who had been with the regiment in every African and European engagement from Tunisia to Germany. The relic is an N.S.D.A.P. flag, 104" x 78", cotton/rayon construction with a separate circular white field with black mobile swastika printed thereon, one end of the flag looped and machine-stitched so as to provide a loop for insertion of a pole for suspending the flag as a banner. The flag bears multiple ink notes, comments, and signatures. Most telling is a list of places where the 505 P.I.R. had served: "Africa Sicily Italy Ireland England France Holland". At bottom the flag's owner notes: "This is a souvenir from Robert Steiner To Show What is Left". Four Dutch women have signed beside his name, one labeled as his "sweet heart". 23 of Steiner's fellow paratroopers have also signed the flag, many of them non-coms and officers. Of them, Bernard W. Peterson would by KIA and Benjamin Thompson would die of wounds before war's end. At right is attached an embroidered image of a frowning Dutchl holding a fan, and she is "suspended" beneath an embroidered parachute with green stitching reading"505th 82ND AB". At left are attached 47 Dutch-made embroidered patches depicting the flags of mostly Allied or Allied-aligned countries, with Italy, the U.S., France and the U.S. at top. Three corners of the reverse of the flag bear lines typed by Steiner, one a note to his sister sending the flag and promising to tell her about it upon his return, one bearing some raunchy poetry, and the third showing all of the countries he had visited and more poetry: "Belgium is like Paris/They take you to their room/They play with your dummy/Till your flowers come to bloom". One stain in white field, else very good. It was the 505th that parachuted into Ste. Mere Eglise, jumped during Operation Market Garden and took heavy losses throughout the war, hence Steiner's comment about "What is Left".

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February 18, 2014 11:00 AM EST
Chesapeake City, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $99 $10
$100 $499 $20
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $3,000
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 + $10,000