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Old 05-02-2018, 10:18 AM
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Arrow 100-year-old flag made for US soldiers who died during World War I returns to Scottis

100-year-old flag made for US soldiers who died during World War I returns to Scottish island

A 100-year-old flag used in the funeral of U.S. troops on a small Scottish island during World War I is making it back to where it originated from as part of a remembrance of the Great War.

Currently held in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington D.C., the flag is making a trek back across the Atlantic to where it was put together, the Scottish island of Islay. It was used in funerals for the more than 200 American soldiers who drowned when the SS Tuscania was hit with a torpedo by a German U-boat.

The ship departed Hoboken, N.J. on Jan. 24 1918, with 384 crewmen and more than 2,000 U.S. Army personnel and was headed for Liverpool. The German U-boat, UB-77, eventually sank the Tuscania on Feb. 5, 2018 when it fired two torpedoes at the ship, causing it to sink in about four hours.

The flag was put together by five people, according to a letter by Hugh Morrison, the Laird of Islay Estate to President Woodrow Wilson. Jessie McLellann, Mary Cunningham, Catherine McGregor, Mary Armour and John McDougall spent hours sewing the stars and stripes, just a few hours ahead of the first funeral for the deceased soldiers, according to The National, a Scottish newspaper.

The group of sewers used an encyclopedia to put together the flag, using it for the design and to help with dimensions. In the letter, Morrison said an American survivor carried the flag. “I remember how anxious everybody in Islay was to show every possible honor to the soldiers of the United States who had come over to fight for the cause of the Allies in the Great War," he wrote.

The flag will be a part of the WW100 Scotland National Day of Remembrance on May 4, with dignitaries from around the world taking part of the commemoration. It will be on display at the Museum of Islay Life in Port Charlotte for several months and then make its way back to Washington.

Jenni Minto, of the Museum of Islay Life, said she is happy the flag is back home for the memorial service. "Islay and Jura lost over 200 of their own men in WW1 and sadly those families never got the opportunity to bury their own," Minto said, according to SWNS.

She added: "The sinking of the TUSCANIA and later the OTRANTO, gave the islanders the opportunity to look after those men, living and dead, as they hoped their own boys would be cared for at land and sea. The making of the flag 100 years ago is symbolic of that and I am delighted that it is to come home to Islay as part of our commemorations."

Richard Kurin, the Smithsonian's ambassador-at-large said the museum is " proud to have been its stewards” and it "embodies an amazing story."

“We are prouder still that the flag now returns home to be exhibited on Islay where it can invoke in the current generation an appreciation of how their forbearers so respected those brothers in battle who’d washed up upon their shores, offering hospitality and healing to the survivors, and providing a last measure of honor to the fallen soldiers and crew," he added.
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O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"IN GOD WE TRUST"
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