A US flag flown above a D-day landing craft is to sell at Milestone Auctions in Willoughby, Ohio. 

The lot was originally flown on LCT 595, which was one of the first to arrive on Utah Beach on June 6, 1944.

It’s valued at $40,000-80,000.

Boatswain George Rudisill brought the flag home with him after the war

Utah was the furthest west of the five beaches and one of the least well defended.

Of the 21,000 allied troops landed, only 311 were killed – compared with 2,000 at the heavily fortified Omaha section.

This flag has been in the collection of a member of LCT 595’s crew, boatswain George Rudisill, since D-day.  

Miles King of Milestone Auctions explains: “The commanding officer ordered Boatswain Rudisill to remove the tattered flag from the landing craft and replace it with a new one.

 “At that point, Boatswain Rudisill asked if he could keep the flag and was granted permission. He kept it, together with the only known photograph of LCT 595, in a shoebox until his passing in 2013.

“Since then, the flag and related mementos have remained in the Rudisill family.”

We’ve seen some impressive sales for D-day flags over the past couple of years.

In 2016, a flag flown above landing craft LCC 60 – the first to arrive on the Normandy beaches - realised a $514,000 at Heritage Auctions, a record for a second world war flag.

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