Returning Flags To A&M, State Honors The Aggies Of World War I

A hundred years ago today, the U.S. entered World War I.

Over 2,200 Texas A&M students served – more than any other American college.

Today, two flags honoring that sacrifice are returning from the State of Texas to Texas A&M University.

They are small replicas of a giant flag created by The Association of Former Students that hung from 1918 to 1943 in the Academic Building.

Photo from 1941 Texas A&M yearbook

Fifty gold stars in the center represent Aggies who lost their lives in the war (more than 50 are now known to have been killed). Hundreds of maroon stars form the border, representing all Aggies who served.

The original flag is 25 feet tall and resides at A&M’s Cushing archives; the two replicas returning to Texas A&M today were made in 1929 and are much smaller.

Read more here: "Flags honoring Aggies' service in WWI return home from Austin after almost 90 years"

An exhibit opening tomorrow near College Station at the Museum of the American GI commemorates Americans’ role in World War I, including the contributions of Aggies such as James V. “Pinky” Wilson, Class of 1920, who put together the words that became A&M’s “War Hymn” (read the full story of the song here) . The exhibit will be open through 2019.