It's a grand old old old flag -

[NutmegCT]

September 2, 1945. On the USS Missouri, the Japanese Empire surrenders to the Allies; WW2 won't actually end until the Treaty of San Francisco, April 20, 1952, but the surrender ends hostilities.

In this photo, British admiral Sir Bruce Fraser, for the UK, signs the surrender document, while MacArthur looks on. Take a look at the flag in the background:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/09/01/flag-japan-surrender-wwii/

Tom M.
"And now you know, the rest of the story."

 

[GregW]

Is the flag being displayed backwards? I thought the blue field should be upper left to the viewer.

 

[DrEntropy]

That article affords quite the rabbit hole, too.

 

[NutmegCT]

Greg - if you can make it through all the popups, banners, and overlays ... this article explains why the flag is "backwards".

A Navy officer’s sudden mission meant carrying a flag 9,000 miles and standing up his fiancee on date night

The flag was almost a century old, worn and begrimed with age. But it was a treasured piece of naval history and Adm. William Halsey wanted it present at the ceremony in which Japan would surrender on a U.S. battleship,...

www.seattletimes.com

The guy carrying the flag from Annapolis to the USS Missouri had quite an adventure - but Halsey wanted it on display when the Japanese delegation arrived on ship.

The flag was a symbol of American economic victory in Japan in 1853.

 

[GregW]

So someone had sewn a linen backing to the front of the flag?

 

[NutmegCT]

I'd imagine that whenever that was done, there were no "rules" on flag display.

Interesting story!

 

[JPSmit]

I'd imagine that whenever that was done, there were no "rules" on flag display.

Interesting story!

well good heavens the world wasn't even in colour yet!

 

[70herald]

So someone had sewn a linen backing to the front of the flag?

More like a someone sewed a linen fronting on the front of the flag

 

[AngliaGT]

well good heavens the world wasn't even in colour yet!

Well,according to Calvin's father (Calvin and Hobbes),the world was
in black and white until sometime in the 1930's.

 

[NutmegCT]

seems we have a bit of thread creep again ...