U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps Motor Truck Company Guidon.
This guidon originally came from the Jim Mountain World War II Collection, which is an historical and important assortment of materials that were all related to the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF) during World War II.
This collection also features an important grouping from the 1919 Transcontinental Motor Convoys; which consisted of two US Army convoys that traveled through the US from Washington DC all the way over to the west coast. In 1919, the first convoy went from Washington DC to San Francisco on the incomplete Lincoln Highway. It is famous for being the first ever motor convoy to cross from the east coast to the west coast of North America. In 1920, the second convoy traveled from Washington DC to San Diego on the Bankhead Highway. Both of these convoys were deployed in order to determine how easily military troops could travel from the east coast to the west coast of the United States.
Dwight D. Eisenhower was a member of the first 1919 Transcontinental Convoy on the Lincoln Highway and he had a great appreciation for the German Autobahn systems that he experienced during World War II. This ensured that he supported the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 as well as the founding of the Interstate Highway System.
In the 1917 Flags of the World National Geographic magazine on page 314 image number 30, this is described as being a "Guidon of a Motor Truck Company" with the following description: This triangular pennant serves as the guidon of the motor-truck company.
NB: The date of manufacture is likely to be after 1912 as the Quartermaster Department turned into the Quartermaster Corps in 1912 and this flag is marked with the symbol for the Quartermaster Corps.
They were largely used on land but based on photographic evidence; these flags were also used on QM vessels including ships.
ZFC Important Flag
Sources:
Transcontinental Motor Convoy, Enotes, May 29, 2012, From: http://www.enotes.com/topic/Transcontinental_Motor_Convoy
Some Facts About Infrastructure, Fred's Blog, May 29, 2012, From: http://fredhenstridge.blogspot.com/2011/04/some-facts-about-infrastructure.html
Creating a Build Number With Ant and Subversion, Innovation on the Run, May 29, 2012, From: http://www.innovationontherun.com/creating-a-build-number-with-ant-and-subversion/
