Japanese National Flag - General William Hesketh.
This silk Japanese flag was acquired as a war trophy flag by Brigadier General William Hesketh (1895 - 1986) during his WWII career. British born Hesketh was one of only 26 foreign born General Officers in the United States Army during WWII. Hesketh's career centered on artillery, ordnance and technical commands as he served with: the 1st Anti-Aircraft Command; 45th Coast Artillery Brigade; and the 46th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade.
General Hesketh, likely acquired this flag while on liaison duty in India, with the Indian Army Ordnance Corps and the Indian Army Engineers. Curiously, some of the Japanese characters on the flag have been marked, "A, B, C & D", perhaps to aid translation. Additionally some of the characters have been blacked out for reasons yet unknown.
This flag was acquired with a grouping of materials from General Hesketh including: his service dress uniform with a European Theatre of Operations United States Army (ETOUSA) patch on upper left sleeve and China Burma India (CBI) Theater patch on upper right sleeve, and his sterling Brig. Gen. stars on the shoulders (ZFC3300); his tan simmer visor cap with interior card of William Hesketh (ZFC3301), his overcoat (ZFC3302) with liner (ZFC3303) and his General Officers flag (ZFC3283).
After the war, he was assigned to the ETOUSA to serve in the Office of the Military Government in occupied Germany, where in 1947 he served as the United States Commandant or Mayor for Berlin, and then as Deputy Military Governor for Germany.
Provenance:Acquired in 2009 from the James Mountain WWII & SHAEF Collection via Alderfer Auctions, Hatboro, PA.
ZFC Important Flag
Sources:
Hesketh William, Brigadier-General, Generals.dk, The Generals of WWII, 20 May 2012,from: http://www.generals.dk/general/Hesketh/William/USA.html
Ammentorp, Steen, 23 Jan 2003, 21:27, Roots of U.S. WWII Generals, Axis History Forum, 20 May 2012, from: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=14146
Palmer, Robert, CENTRAL COMMAND, INDIA HISTORY & PERSONNEL,A short history of Central Command, India between 1942 and 1946.2011
WWW.BRITISHMILITARYHISTORY.CO.UK. 20 May 2012, from: http://www.britishmilitaryhistory.co.uk/aqadmin/media/uploads/4e4048c0ec500_Central%20Command%20India%20History%20&%20Personnel.pdf
Key MG (Military Government) Personnel, 20 May 2012, from: http://images.library.wisc.edu/History/EFacs/GerRecon/omg1947n117/reference/history.omg1947n117.i0006.pdf
Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection
