A historic flag has been found at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in southeast Missouri’s Farmington. VFW Commander Bud Davis says a member discovered a USS Missouri flag tucked away in the attic. Japan surrendered on the USS Missouri battleship – putting an end to World War Two.
VFW member discovers important artifact in attic of Missouri post
“I was like, ‘Are you kidding me? The ship that the Japanese actually surrendered to the U.S. on?’ He was like ‘Yeah, I found it up in the attic with a sign on it and a picture of the ship next to it.’”
Davis tells Missourinet affiliate KREI in Farmington they researched the flag.
“If it had 50 stars on it, it was after World War II. There was one year after World War II that they were flying 49 stars,” he says. “We counted the stars and it’s 48 stars. That’s World War II.”
Missouri received 11 battle stars for service in World War II, Korea and the Persian Gulf. It was decommissioned in 1992 after serving 16 years of active service. In 1998, the ship was donated to the USS Missouri Memorial Association and became a museum ship at the U.S. naval base of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
Davis says the post has many artifacts important to the history of the United States and world.
“I would really love the community to be able to come down and see some of the things that have just been brought in over the years,” Davis says. “We’ve got maps from Germany from World War II. We’ve got more Vietnam veterans bringing in stuff.”
The post is fundraising to place the flag in a display case by Veterans Day next month.
