Original Item: Only One Available. Just received from the collection of a deceased flag collector, this is a wonderful WWII US Navy used 48 Star American Flag. This flag was donated to the Flag Heritage Foundation some time after the company’s founding by Antoinette Rungee, the widow of esteemed flag collector Dr. Clarence Rungee in 1971 and was a part of the Dr. Clarence R. Rungee Memorial Collection for many years. The flag was acquired by Heritage Auctions and sold in 2020 for $2,625.00, making this a spectacular deal!

The original listing can be found at this link: 

The "Workhorse Destroyer" of the Pacific - USS Flusser (DD-368). USS Flusser (DD-368) was commissioned in 1936, the fourth and final US warship named for Lt. Cmdr. Charles W. Flusser (USNA 1847), who was killed in action April 19, 1864 while commanding the USS Miami during the Battle of Plymouth, NC against the ironclad ram, CSS Albemarle. She was a Mahan class destroyer that cruised in the Atlantic and Pacific until being stationed at Pearl Harbor.

The ensign of the Flusser is a cotton bunting, 44" X 64", 48-star, double applique, sewn stripe flag finished with heading and grommets. It is marked on the obverse hoist, "USS FLUSSER 368" and bears an Annin maker's label for a "Defiant" brand flag.

Founded in 1847 by Alexander Annin, the business was previously a ship chandler on Fulton Street, New York City in the 1820s. By 1847, Annin Flagmakers turned to manufacturing all flags and was soon taken over and run by Alexander's two sons, Benjamin and Edward. Located at 99-101 Fulton Street (at the corner of William Street) in Lower Manhattan from 1847 until 1925, the location became known as “Old Glory Corner”. Needing more space, Annin opened a location on Fifth Avenue at the corner of 16th Street. The showroom, corporate offices and custom sewing department moved to this space in 1910 and remained until 1960 when the offices moved to New Jersey.

With rising demand for American flags during World War I, Annin built a modern five-story, 34,000 sq ft (3,200 m2) manufacturing building in Verona, New Jersey that opened in 1918 at a cost of $155,655. When a 28,000-square-foot (2,600 m2) addition was completed in 1925, the Fulton Street location was closed. Two months before the closure, a large fire struck Fulton Street, but luckily Annin's location was spared.
One of Annin's early commissions was flags for the inauguration of Zachary Taylor as President of the United States in 1849. In 1850 Annin provided flags for concerts by Swedish singer Jenny Lind displayed on a national tour produced by showman P. T. Barnum. In 1851 Annin made flags for Queen Victoria of Great Britain for the Queen's "Great Exhibit of the Works of Industry of All Nations" in London, considered by historians to be the first World's Fair.

The Flusser, one of the original "workhorse destroyers" of the Pacific, was at sea screening the USS Lexington when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Returning to a devastated home port, she immediately took up escort duties on convoys between Pearl Harbor and the West Coast. She landed a US Marine force on Palmyra Atoll and then resumed her escort and patrol duties.

Based out of Pearl Harbor, Flusser returned to training, escort, patrol, and antisubmarine duties in the Fiji Islands, Espiritu Santo, Samoa, and Tonga. She provided shore bombardment at New Guinea, where she sank three Japanese barges. She patrolled in Australian waters and covered landings at Cape Gloucester and Los Negros.

By 1944, she badly needed a West Coast overhaul, which she received that summer before returning to duty escorting ships to Eniwetok. Until now, the Flusser had been unscathed, but in September she was damaged by a shore battery and in November shot down her first kamikaze.

While supporting the Leyte landings in October, 1944, Flusser was subjected to repeated kamikaze and bombing attacks. When USS Lamson was hit by a suicide plane, Flusser's small boat crew rescued a large number of survivors. Flusser stood by during a ten-hour attack by approximately 50 Japanese suicide planes, permitting recovery of Lamson. After the invasion of Luzon, in Lingayen Gulf in January, 1945, Flusser participated in the numerous thrusts which dislodged enemy garrisons from the central and Southern Philippine Islands and Borneo. She remained in the Philippines until the cessation of hostilities when she sailed to Okinawa for occupation duty and then service at Bikini Atoll. She was decommissioned in 1946.

The WWII awards of the USS Flusser are: US Navy Unit Commendation, two, American Defense Service Medal with "FLEET" clasp, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with eight campaign stars, World War II Victory Medal, and the Navy Occupation Medal with the Asia Clasp.

The ensign of the Flusser is in good condition. It is used, worn, and soiled; it is otherwise complete and ready for display.