An American flag flown on a D-day landing craft achieved $45,000 at Heritage Auctions in Dallas on December 11.

LCT-A 2227 carried three tanks and a team of demolition experts, all of whom landed safely on the Dog Green sector of Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944.

The flag is discoloured with exhaust smoke but remains in good condition

Dog Green was the site of some of the fiercest fighting during the assault, with the first two waves of allied soldiers all but wiped out by the formidable German defences.

LCT-A 2227 came under attack from a mortar battery and was critically damaged. Fortunately, the crew were saved when the mortars were redirected to another target. The vessel was repaired after the attack and later scuttled in the English Channel.

The flag is consigned from the collection of naval ensign Victor Hicken, who died in 2010.

He described the experience of approaching Omaha Beach to writer Joseph Balkoski: ''We went in right in front of the bow of the battleship Texas when it fired a full salvo.

"It was just like a giant door slamming and it really shook me up. You could actually see the shells flying through the air toward the shoreline."

Another D-day flag, from the first allied vessel to land on the Normandy beaches, sold for $514,000 last year.