Association Displays Flag Sewn By GIs In WWII Prison Camp

Hand-sewn and faded, this U.S. flag was made in a World War II prison camp by American GIs, led by an Aggie. 

They had just been freed.

Capt. Jerome McDavitt ’33 was the senior American in the Japanese camp. He’d been captured on Corregidor soon after the 1942 “roll call” that made Aggie Muster famous nationwide.

At the war’s end, the U.S. air-dropped supplies to the camp. McDavitt said the food and medicine “floated down to us on sixteen red, white and blue parachutes. I stood there amazed.”

By the next morning, the Americans had fashioned the parachute silk into this flag.

More than 4 feet tall and 6 feet wide, it rotates on display at The Association of Former Students with the 1946 Corregidor “block T” Aggie flag (tx.ag/Corregidor). You can visit the display as well as the collections of historic Aggie Rings anytime the building is open (tx.ag/visit).

The Association preserves and displays Aggie history in the Alumni Center as well as hosting hundreds of events each year for former students, current students and others in the Aggie Network, from Ring Day and Class Reunions to a free, public game-watching party for each home football game. Small gifts from thousands of Association donors help provide these services that bring Aggies together and connect them. You can make a gift of any amount at tx.ag/give.