My US flags and one "rare" piece
Good evening!
I'll just post a fem pictures of the two flags i got some months ago here
First up is the so called "Rare piece" i got it from a collector in the US and the story says that this flag belonged to a 506th PIR 101st Airborne Infantry Division named 1 LT. D C Watts.
It's said to have been carried in ETO Combat.
And the other flag is an US Command Flag with fringes....i have no more info on this one,sorry.
Nice flags but the story sounds like a charlie snyder tale, rule of thumb is buy the item not the story, unless you have some amazing documentation a story is just that, a story.
I found somewhere on the Internet an article about 1 LT. D C Watts.
ABOUT seven years ago, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant who was involved in the looting of Hitler's Bavarian hideaway sold Snyder his collection of Hitleriana. It was a mother lode from the fatherland. D.C. Watts and others in the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment had entered Berchtesgaden with the first occupation troops in May 1945. The initial looting had already ended, but Watts soon learned of a network of tunnels leading to Hitler's country house, the Berghof. There he found the grail -- the storage rooms where Hitler's belongings were protected from Allied bombing.
American soldiers carried out their war booty by the trunkful. Watts snared hundreds of pieces of silverware, thousands of documents and more than 30 original Hitler paintings. "We won, so it's ours," is Snyder's explanation. "That's why guys bring stuff back. It's, 'Gee, Mom, I was there.'
Do a search of charlie snyder on this forum and you will see where I am coming from lol
I find it difficult to believe that an American souvenir hunter would bust into Hitler's palatial mansion, the luxurious home of the Führer, replete with all manner of treasure and war trophies, and take... a box of hairbrushes and women's underwear.
I know i buy the item and not the story that's why i wrote "It's said to be" and i also have a hard time to believe it belonged to the guy in the 506th.
I'll just call it an smaller American flag cause i dont have any evidence about it belonging to the guy we are speaking of
Not to take the Thief Snyder's side in any way, but the story above is actually believable. One only has to look at Saddam Hussein's junk to know that at the end of a war, a victorious soldier only wants Something from the leader of the enemy for a souvenir. It's perfectly plausible to picture all the "1st In" guys taking everything of significance and leaving what they would consider rubbish behind, so the later arriving guys had to pick through the debris and find Something to bring home. Many guys ended up having to simply pick up a stone or a brick from the rubble, as there was literally very little else Left to grab but they Still wanted a "I was there!" piece to bring back. The sad thing is, many souvenirs end up sitting on a shelf somewhere in Iowa or Oregon and when the old man eventually does, no one realizes what it even Is anymore and they either get tossed in the garbage or sent to GoodWill. Things like the Blood Flag have been theorized to be "out there somewhere" and no one realizing what they really are. Sometimes we can get lucky and a new major artifact is "discovered" in an estate sale or such, but most times, things are lost forever...by Erno
William
"Much that once was, is lost. For none now live who remember it."
Hey I saw it at Ag Hall last weekend, since I saw it, it must be true.
There is a story in that book Snyder gave out too wich includes "Lt D C Watts" regarding the souvenir looting
He could have been a closet cross dresser.
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