48 Star U.S. European made Interment Flag with gold & white stars, WWII.
"At a cemetery in Cedarvale, on special occasions, the Burial Flags of local deceased veterans are displayed.

One flag, now 42 years old and beginning to fade, is the casket flag for Tech 5 Carl E. Sheldon. When all the veterans flags are displayed, it is Carl Sheldon's flag which stands out among the others.

The stars on Carl Sheldon's flag are Gold. Although geometrically correct, the stars which should be white, are gold. When this flag was presented to Vera Sheldon, no explanation accompanied it, and no one knew why.

Since the early 1950s, The American Legion Post 201 in Cedarvale has been host to the famous Third District Coffee Tour. Every new Tourmaster to the Third is asked to find out why there are gold stars on Carl Sheldon's flag. In 1985, it was my turn to be Third District Tourmaster, and naturally, I said Id try to find out the answer to the gold stars.

In my spare time at work, I asked everyone I knew here at the VA Regional Office. I called Congressman Dan Clickman's office, the Wichita Public Library, McConnell Air Force Base, The American Legion Department Headquarters, and several other good sources of information. Still, no one had an answer for me. Finally, Ron Sharp, the Chief of Supply Service at the VA Hospital here in Wichita, gave me the address of the current authorized flag manufacturer, the Valley Forge Flag Company.

When I contacted the company's Flag Historian, he said he had been asked about a flag with 48 gold stars more than 10 years ago. He said the gold-starred American Flag had not been made by his company. He suggested contacting the Flag Historian at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. I did this, and after going through several operators, I was connected with Mr. Harold Langley of the Smithsonian's Flag Department who knew the story of the Gold-Starred Burial Flags.

It seems in November, 1944, there was a big push going through Germany and thousands of American soldiers were being wounded and killed. It is protocol to have an American Flag on every soldier's casket, and that flag is to remain on the casket until the soldier is buried. The supply of casket flags dropped when casualties rose and a small French garment factory was requisitioned to make the needed casket flags. The management of the factory had heard somewhere of the Gold Star Mothers and assumed that the stars of the flags were to be gold if the flag was to be used as a casket flag. Approximately 500 of these gold starred flags were manufactured before the error was corrected. But because of the great need for casket flags, the gold starred flags were distributed to the Signal Corps for use.

Although Carl Sheldon's gold starred casket flag is not proper in terms of the flag code, it was officially authorized by the United States Army. The gold starred flag, like any other Historical Flag, can be displayed with pride and honor, only flag etiquette dictates that the current 50-star American Flags be displayed higher than those of Historic significance.

I hope the questions I get during this year's Forth District Coffee Tour are as interesting."

from
http://www.treachap1.us/pastnews/A2004.htm#33
WWII U.S. Flag Has 48 Gold Stars
Submitted By Dean Sorrell, Author Unknown

Deaccessed, Bonhams Auction ARM24112MR, 12 November 2024

ZFC Significant Flag

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