Dutch collector presents D-Day flag to US
Posted Jul 18, 2019 04:27:08 PM.
WASHINGTON — A Dutch collector is at the White House presenting the United States with an American flag flown on the stern of a boat during the World War II D-Day landing on Utah Beach.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History says a hole right through the middle of the tattered flag’s field of stars is believed to have come from a German machine-gun bullet.
The flag was presented Thursday during Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s (Ruh-te) visit with President Donald Trump.
The skipper of the D-Day boat — Lt. Howard Vander Beek of Cedar Falls, Iowa — had the flag until he died in 2014.
Dutch collector Bert Kreuk (Ker-OHK) later bought the flag for $514,000 at the family’s estate auction with hopes of giving it to the U.S.
Deb Riechmann, The Associated Press
