Yolande Bernard, a 21-year old woman from Remouchamps, Belgium sewed this flag as a token of gratitude for the Americans who were about to liberate her town in September 1944. The stars were shaped from cardboard and covered with tin foil. Yolande risked her life sewing the flag. If it had been discovered by the Germans, they would have executed her.
Earl Gibbs’ platoon from the 745th Tank Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, was taken in for a week at the Hubin family home, which neighbored the Bernard home. Gibbs and his Belgian caretakers remained close after the war. In 1996 Yolande gave the flag to Gibbs, asking him to give it to one of the GIs who liberated Remouchamps. Although he could not locate any of the soldiers, he donated the flag to the First Division Museum at Cantigny, as the division liberated several Belgian towns in 1944.