Lonnie Bunch receives Dooms Day Flag from White House for Display In Smithsonian American Museum of History

By Mona Austin

When a soldier dies in battle over seas , their remains are returned to their families.  The remains of a war-torn flag were returned to the American family on Thursday at the White House.  The Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte and a Dutch collector presented the flag to Pres. Donald Trump in an East Room ceremony75 years after Normandy.

The tattered, 48-star flag was  turned over to the Smithsonian Museum of American History for future display.  Its battle scars included frayed edges and a hole in the middle that is believed to be a bullet hole from a German machine gun. It had flown on the stern of a Navy ship carrying the first U.S. troops to Normandy, France, on D-Day during World War II and was donated to the United States  by a Dutch businessman and collector. 

“It is my honor to welcome this great American flag back home,” Trump said on receiving the gift.

Rutte expressed gratitude for  U.S. forces   fighting to liberate Europe. “Their greatness is embodied in this flag,” he said.

Smithsonian President Lonnie Bunch was on hand for the occasion.   

Bunch, remarked about the powerful symbolism of the flag for humanity and the importance of remembering that people fought for the freedom we enjoy today.                   

“What a wonderful gift this is,” Bunch said. “Candidly  one  of the goals of the Smithsonian is to help America to remember -- to remember to moments such as D-Day that forever shaped our nation.  These artifacts teach us lessons about our history and about ourselves. . .This flag is a fitting tribute to all those who fought for freedom.” 

Bunch's words were particularly  after a week of fall out from Pres. Trump heavily criticizing a diverse group of freshmen Congresswomen who he has accused of hating the nation for having a difference of opinion, which they have the freedom to express as  a First Amendment right that the flag protects.

President Trump acknowledged World War II veterans who were in attendacne. Jack Goldstein and  Steven Melnikoff and Harold Angle, both veterans of the Normandy campaign.

President Donald J. Trump, joined by the Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte, participates Thursday, July 18, 2019, in the presentation of a WW II flag flown aboard a landing craft during the D-Day invasion at Normandy in 1944, presented to officials of the Smithsonian Institute during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. Here Trump shakes hands with museum president  Lonnie Bunch. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)