U.S. Army Brigadier General Quartermaster Corps Automobile Flag.
This diminutive buff wool felt flag with a single white five pointed star over the embroidered insignia of the US Army's Quartermaster Corps was made to identify the vehicle of a brigadier general of that corps. All officers of the general staff were authorized a field and boat flag as well as a car flag, and this is an example of the later.
First authorized in 1931 these flags were branch specific, differing from the flags for general officers adopted in 1903, which had replaced the earlier system used in both the American Civil War and the Spanish American War (in which the command echelon of an officer was indicated rather than his grade). The system employed was simple: using a plain red rectangular field, the general's rank insignia was applied in white in the center, with a single star representing a brigadier-general, two stars representing a major-general, three stars representing a lieutenant-general, and so on.
This authorization 1931 specified flags for officers of the general staff. Each had the primary branch color as the field or ground for the flag and the insignia of the branch in the secondary branch color. As in the general officer flags adopted in 1903, the number of white five-pointed stars on the flag indicated the grade of the officer.
Although colorful these positional colors would be used for only a short period, as they were later abolished during WWII as a wartime economy measure.
ZFC Significant Flag
Provenance: Acquired at auction, Alderfer Auctions, Hatfield, PA, 9 September 2009
Sources:
US Army Regulations No. 260-10, Flags, colors, standards, and Guidons: Descriptions and Use, Washington, DC. War Department, 1931.
Colors & Flags for Individuals, 1923-31 Regulations, UNITED STATES ARMY HISTORICAL FLAGS & COLORS, War Flags Through the Ages & Around the World, , 1 December 2011, from: http://tmg110.tripod.com/usarmyh7.htm
Madaus, Howard M.- Whitney Smith, The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord and Conflict, VZ Publications, Santa Cruz, 2006.
General Officer Flags, The Institute of Heraldry, 1 December 2011, from: http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/UniformedServices/Flags/Gen_Officer_Flags.aspx
Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection
