48 Star U.S. Liberation Flag - Occupied Belgium.

48 Star U.S. Liberation Flag made in Occupied Belgium, presented during battle to great grandson of Francis Scott Key.
48 Stars: July 4, 1912 July 3, 1959 (statehood: New Mexico January 6, 1912; Arizona February 14, 1912)

This 48 star United States flag is a Liberation Flag, a reference to any flag made in the hope of liberation from an oppressor; most commonly flags of the various allied nations during WWII.

During the Nazi occupation of Belgium, Madame Edith Coort-Fresart and her three daughters (Marguerite-Marie, Marie-Therese, and Francoise) made Allied flags in secret from bed sheets and other materials scavenged in their household. The French Tricolor and British Union Jack were fairly easy to make while the most difficult was the Stars and Stripes. They had to work in secret as they were under scrutiny since their father and husband, Monsieur Paul Coort-Fresart, lawyer of Liege Belgium, was being held by the Germans for his patriotic endeavors. According to family tradition the flag was displayed too soon, and observed by the still present Germans, drawing fire upon the home. Finally, at around 4 P.M. on September 7th, 1944, these women who had taken great risks in making Allied flags were afforded the opportunity to fly them.

On that day, when American troops and Belgian resistance forces drove the Germans out of Liege, the Coort-Fresart family responded by flying the American flag from the window of their home at 44 Rue du Jardin Botanique, Liege on September 7, 1944 before the eyes of the retreating Germans and advancing American and Belgian Marquis who liberated Liege on that date.

That night an American officer, a U.S. Army Major Arthur Tilghman Brice, XVI Corps, 1st Army, stayed at their home. Coincidentally, Major Brice was the great-grandson of Francis Scott Key, who had penned the Star Spangled Banner in 1814. As a token of their thanks for the American role in the liberation of Belgium, the grateful women presented this flag to Major Brice, who brought it home to Baltimore after the war.

This homemade Liberation Flag became a part of the collection of The Star-Spangled Banner Flag House Association, Inc. which was formed in 1927 to operate a museum dedicated to the story of Mary Young Pickersgill who made the enormous 30 x 42-foot Star-Spangled Banner that flew over Fort McHenry during the War of 1812 and inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem that became our National Anthem. Mary Pickersgill's flag still survives and now hangs at the Smithsonian Institution's, National Museum of American History. As one of the earliest associations dedicated to the study of flags, The Flag House & Star-Spangled Banner Museum also became a repository for flags from other eras, and amassed one of the most significant flag collections in the nation.

Exhibition History:

First Presidio Exhibit
48-Star Home Made United States Flag, From Occupied Belgium
Date: 1944

Second Presidio Exhibit, 2003 - Gallery VI
48-Star United States Flag, Homemade in Occupied Belgium

University of California - Santa Cruz
Board of Councilors Meeting, Rare Flags Exhibit
Santa Cruz, CA
7 June 2012

Provenance:
• Made in occupied Belgium by Madame Edith Coort-Fresart and her three daughters (Marguerite-Marie, Marie-Therese, and Francoise), Liege, Belgium, 1944.
• Presented to U.S. Army Major Arthur Tilghman Brice, XVI Corps, 1st Army, Sept, 1944.
• Gifted to The Star Spangled Banner Flag House & Museum, in 1946.
• Star Spangled Banner Flag House & Museum collection until, 1966.
• Acquired by the Zaricor Flag Collection from the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House Collection of Baltimore, MD.,1996.



ZFC Significant Flag
Item is Framed

Sources:

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Madaus, Howard M.- Whitney Smith, The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord and Conflict, VZ Publications, Santa Cruz, 2006.

Arthur Tilghman Brice, Jr., ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY WEBSITE, 12 November 2011, from: http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/atbricejr.htm

48 Star Flag - (1912-1959) (U.S.), Flags of the World, 12 November 2011, from: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-1912.html

Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection

(Formerly in the Star Spangled Banner Flag House Sub-collection.)

Hoist & Fly
Width of Hoist	49
Length of Fly	48.5

Union/Canton
Width of Union/Canton	24.5
Length of Union/Canton	22.5

Stars
Size of Stars	2.5

Stripes
Width of 1st Stripe	3.5
Width of 3rd Stripe	3.75
Width of 8th Stripe	3.75
Width of Last Stripe	3.75
Size of Hoist	0.75

Frame
Is it framed?	yes
Frame Height	56.5
Frame Length	56.25

Stars
Number of Stars	48
How are the stars embeded?	Sewn
Are there stars on obverse?	yes
Are there stars on reverse?	yes

Stripes
Number of Stripes	13
Color of Top Stripe	Red
Color of Bottom Stripe	Red
Has a Blood Stripe?	yes

Nationality
Nation Represented	United States

Fabric
Fabric	Cotton

Stitching
Stitching	Machine
Comments on Stitching	Stars are hand stitched

Thread
Thread Material	Cotton

Applica
Applique Sides	Single Faced = Mirror Image Reverse

Documentation
Documents
Drawings	All original documents and drawings are held in the Zaricor Flag Collection Archives.
Research Documents	All original documents and drawings are held in the Zaricor Flag Collection Archives.
Public Copy & Signs

Condition
Condition	Bad
Damage	Fabric is totally discolored.
Displayable	yes

Date
Date	1944

Exhibits

Exhibition Copy

Exhibition History First Presidio Exhibit (ZFC0149) 48-Star Home Made United States Flag, From Occupied Belgium Date: 1944 Medium: Cotton; hand sewn Comment: During the Nazi occupation of Belgium, Madame Edith Coort-Fresart and her three daughters, Marguerite-Marie, Marie-Theresa, and Francoise, made flags from materials scavenged in their household mainly bed sheets. One of the flags was French, one British, and the most difficult for them to make, one was American. On September 7th, 1944 the ladies were afforded the opportunity to fly these flags. On that day American and Belgian resistance forces drove the Germans out of Liege, and the ladies responded by flying the American flag from their window. That night, an American officer stayed at their home Major Brice. It so happened that Major Brice was the great grandson of Francis Scott Key, who had penned the Star Spangled Banner in 1814. As a token of thanks for the American part in the liberation of Belgium, the four ladies presented this flag to Major Brice, who brought it home to Baltimore after the War. Provenance: Acquired by the Zaricor Flag Collection (ZFC0149) in 1996 from the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House Collection of Baltimore, MD. Second Presidio Exhibit, 2003 - Gallery VI (ZFC0149) 48-Star United States Flag, Homemade in Occupied Belgium Date: 1944 48 Stars: July 4, 1912-July 3, 1959 (statehood: New Mexico January 6, 1912; Arizona February 14, 1912) Medium: Cotton; hand-sewn Comment: During the Nazi occupation of Belgium, Madame Edith Coort-Fresart and her three daughters (Marguerite-Marie, Marie-Therese, and Francoise) made flags from bed sheets and other materials scavenged in their household. The French Tricolor and British Union Jack were fairly easy to make while the most difficult was the Stars and Stripes. Finally, on September 7th, 1944, these women who had taken great risks in making Allied flags were afforded the opportunity to fly them. On that day, when American and Belgian resistance forces drove the Germans out of Liege, the Coort-Fresart family responded by flying the American flag from their window. That night an American officer, a Major Brice, stayed at their home. Coincidentally, Major Brice was the great-grandson of Francis Scott Key, who had penned the Star Spangled Banner in 1814. As a token of their thanks for the American role in the liberation of Belgium, the grateful women presented this flag to Major Brice, who brought it home to Baltimore after the war. Chicago Meeting December, 2003 (ZFC0149) 48-Star United States Flag, Homemade in Occupied Belgium Date: 1944 48 Stars: July 4, 1912-July 3, 1959 (statehood: New Mexico January 6, 1912; Arizona February 14, 1912) Medium: Cotton; hand-sewn Comment: During the Nazi occupation of Belgium, Madame Edith Coort-Fresart and her three daughters (Marguerite-Marie, Marie-Therese, and Francoise) made flags from bed sheets and other materials scavenged in their household. The French Tricolor and British Union Jack were fairly easy to make while the most difficult was the Stars and Stripes. Finally, on September 7th, 1944, these women who had taken great risks in making Allied flagswere afforded the opportunity to fly them. On that day, when American and Belgian resistance forces drove the Germans out of Liege, the Coort-Fresart family responded by flying the American flag from their window. That night an American officer, a Major Brice, stayed at their home. Coincidentally, Major Brice was the great-grandson of Francis Scott Key, who had penned the Star Spangled Banner in 1814. As a token of their thanks for the American role in the liberation of Belgium, the grateful women presented this flag to Major Brice, who brought it home to Baltimore after the war. University of California - Santa Cruz Board of Councilors Meeting, 7 June 2012 Rare Flags Exhibit Santa Cruz, CA, June 7, 2012: The Zaricor Flag Collection exhibited 34 flags and artifacts at the University of California Santa Cruz Campus for the Board of Councilors Meeting. 48 Star United States Flag, Homemade in Occupied Belgium Date: 1944 Media: Cotton; hand-sewn. Comment: During the occupation of Belgium, Madame Edith Coort-Fresart and her three daughters (Marguerite-Marie, Marie-Therese, and Francoise) made flags from bed sheets and other materials scavenged in their household. The French Tricolor and British Union Jack were fairly easy to make while the most difficult was the Stars and Stripes. On September 7th, 1944, these women who had taken great risks in making Allied flags, were afforded the opportunity to fly them that day, when American and Belgian resistance forces drove the Germans out of Liege, the Coort-Fresart family responded by flying the American flag from their window. It is interesting to note that the family had attempted to fly the American flag a day earlier but German soldiers remaining in the area fired on the house, Francoise told Ben Zaricor in a telephone conversation in 1998. That night an American officer, a Major Brice, stayed at their home. As a token of their thanks for the American role in the liberation of Belgium, the grateful women presented this flag to Major Brice, who brought it home to Baltimore after the war. Coincidentally, Major Brice was the great-grandson of Francis Scott Key, who had penned the Star Spangled Banner in 1814. Provenance: Acquired by the Zaricor Flag Collection (ZFC0149) in 1996 from the Star Spangled Banner Flag House Collection of Baltimore, MD. www.FlagCollection.com

Publications

Publication Copy

Publication History: Madaus, Howard M., Dr, Whitney Smith, The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord and Conflict. Santa Cruz: VZ Publications, 2006, p. 127. 48-Star United States Flag Home-Made in Occupied Belgium During the Nazi occupation of Belgium, Madame Edith Coort-Frsart and her three daughters (Marguerite-Marie, Marie-Thrse, and Franoise) made flags from bed sheets and other materials scavenged in their household. The French Tricolor and British Union Jack were fairly easy to make while the most difficult was the Stars & Stripes. Finally, on September 7th, 1944, these women who had taken great risks in making Allied flags were afforded the opportunity to fly them. On that day, when American and Belgian resistance forces drove the Germans out of Lige, the Coort-Frsart family responded by flying the American flag from their window. Of special note, they attempted to hang it out the window a day too early and the home-received gunfire from German units still in the area. That night an American officer, Major Arthur Tilghman Brice, stayed at their home. As a token of their thanks for the American role in the liberation of Belgium, the grateful women presented this flag to Major Brice, who took it home to Baltimore after the war. Major Brice, it turned out, was none other than the great-grandson of Francis Scott Key, who had penned the Star Spangled Banner in 1814.