Reichskriegflagge [National War Flag] Naval ensign with a swastika and iron cross acquired by a US soldier

National War Flag, Naval ensign, with a swastika and an iron cross on a red field, obtained by an American soldier during his service in Germany in 1945. This type of flag was used aboard German warships from November 7, 1935 - May 8, 1945. The US soldier who brought the flag home landed at Utah Beach during the D-Day invasion in June 1944 and helped liberate and secure the city of Paris in late August. He fought with General Patton's Third Army in the Siege of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge in December. While searching for German soldiers on a farm in Germany, he was struck by a barn door which broke a vertebra. After recovering in a London hospital, he returned to combat and had advanced with his unit into Czechoslovakia when the war ended in May 1945.