Help needed!

[chuck]

I've got four flags from various family members.They were all Veterans and died between 1960 and 1990.Now all of these flags are still folded in a triangle but I need to figure out which one belonged on who's casket!What do I need to look for to narrow the time period down a little? Thanks, Chuck

[coasterville]

All died between 1960 and 1990, that's going to be rough as I would think all would be 50 star flags.

The only thing that may help is if anybody tucked a note in with the flags (unlikely), or if the manufacturer contract changed during that time or the manufacturer markings changed.

My own dad died in 1994 (Korea) - and his flag came from Valley Forge. Not sure how long Valley Forge has had the contract with the VA/Legion or if they still do. (Or each post may be free to purchase from wherever, I don't really know)

[NAVA1974]

I gotta agree with Coasterville. 50-star flags carry very few clues to age. Only if they were made with an obscure, or short-lived fabric, like Annin's Nyla-Wool, would you be able to better focus on a date (that nylon-wool blend was used around 1970 +/- a few years, IIRC.) Some flags made under US Government Contract were packaged with a slip of paper that had the contract number and sometimes the date, but that slip would have been discarded long before the flag got to the casket.

My suggestion is to do something similar to what they did to select the unknown soldier from World War I. Write the names of the four veterans on separate pieces of paper, fold them, and seal them in four envelopes. Then shuffle the envelopes and have a relative of each veteran select one envelope and place it on one of the flags.

News - Unknown Soldier of World War I

Nick A
Columbia Maryland