100704-4484_South-Pole_flag.jpg

This is an old American flag that is one of about a 
dozen that Elsa and I found in her garage in May 2007 
after her husband John passed away.  John was on 
Admiral Richard Byrd's staff in Antarctica in 1947.  
In the garage was a box that was labeled "Flags 
flown at the Pole."  So our take on it is that 
John took them all there for the purpose of flying 
each of them and bringing them back.  Most were 
common fabric with printed-on stars.  Most looked 
brand new as though John only waved them for a 
minute or a day.  Some, however, had sewn stars 
and sewn strips.  A few, moreover, were tattered 
and had clearly been flown for many, perhaps 
stormy, days.  This is one of those latter.  It
has, of course, only 48 stars.