Re: United States Army-Navy "E" award Flag

[chesterpiglet]

Hi everyone.
I bought this in the Summer & made some enquiries about it but reached a dead end................it has been in a box since then.

The Army-Navy "E" Award was an honor presented to companies during World War II whose production facilities achieved "Excellence in Production" ("E") of war equipment. The award was also known as the Army-Navy Production Award. The award was created to encourage industrial mobilization and production of war time materials. By war's end, the award had been earned by only 5% of the more than 85,000 companies involved in producing materials for the U.S. military's war effort.

However it was inaugurated earlier than that.

An earlier award, the Navy "E" Award, had been created in 1906 during Theodore Roosevelt's administration. By the end of World War I, the Navy "E" Award had been joined by the Army "A" Award and the Army-Navy Munitions Board "Star".

These three separate awards continued until seven months after the attack on Pearl Harbor had pulled the United States into World War II. In July 1942, the War Department proclaimed that the new Army-Navy "E" Award would merge the Navy "E", Army "A" and Army-Navy Munitions Board "Star" into a single, service-wide award.

I have found photographs of the Navy "E" award & the Joint Army & Navy one but cannot find any photographs or images of the Army "A" award flag which I believe mine is.

It is a fascinating award & won by over 4000 companies which are listed. It was possible to win mulitiple additional stars which were sewn on if standards were maintained. Staff were awarded badges to wear on their clothes too & the flag was often awarded at a grand ceremony.

I got it near Montlucon which has the Dunlop Factory but cannot find any link or reason why the flag ended up over here.

I have attached photos of my flag & would welcome any comments or guidance as to places to contact. I contacted several US Flag Museums without reply.

Thanking you in advance as always.

Regards Rob

[Jim]

Hi Rob.

I do not know the answer to your question, but here is a photo of an Army-Navy Award flag ceremony in 1942 for the Hershey Chocolate company who provided chocolate for the soldiers and sailors during WW2. The size of this flag being given to Hershey seems to be quite a bit larger than the one you have which makes me wonder if yours is one of the ones that would have been formally awarded to a company or whether it might have been something that could have been used in larger numbers at various locations inside a given factory as an incentive to workers to keep doing good work?? Also I do not see any grommet holes on yours so it does not appear to be the kind of flag that was meant to be flown above a factory on their flagpole and more likely was meant to be tacked onto a wall or something? I do not know.

[chesterpiglet]

Hi there Jim
Many thanks for your reply & comments. One just sold on Ebay which appears to be similar to the one above & measures 8 feet across. Mine is 6 feet & 1"-he is a big dog lol There are grommet holes for the flag rope on the other side. Mine is constructed in a similar way with felt Eagle & Stars & the letters are machine embroidered-it is a well made thing & not just printed on. I find it very strange that I cannot find any images anywhere. The Army & Navy ones were only awarded separately for 7 months after Pearl Harbour when the US joined the War. I have read what some of the qualifying requirements were but have not been able to ascertain if there was a minimum time period. Certainly the standards had to be maintained for 6 months continuously to earn an extra Star(by virtue of time the maximum was 6 & this was actually achieved by several companies). So given that it may have been for 6 months initial excellence maybe very few were actually awarded. I have found images of the Navy one but not an actual photograph. It was also awarded in WWI but my feelings are it is WWII period but I could be wrong. I will keep searching.................the answer is out there somewhere.
Thanks again.
Regards Rob

[chesterpiglet]

I forgot to say that the employees were awarded a Silver version of the flag to be worn on their clothing. These are avidley collected with over 4,200 to collect.Criteria

All factories engaged in war production were eligible to receive the award. Government as well as privately owned plants were eligible, as were contractors.

Although the award was granted to industry, one academic institution and one individual received it. Iowa State College (now Iowa State University) received the award for its contribution to the production of uranium for the Manhattan Project. Dr. Harley A. Wilhelm received the award for inventing the Ames process for the extraction, purification and mass production of uranium for the Manhattan Project, which occurred at Iowa State College.

Some factors which were considered in selecting recipients were:

Quality and quantity of production
Overcoming of production obstacles
Avoidance of work stoppages
Maintaining of fair labor standards
Training of additional labor forces
Good record keeping in relation to health and safety

District procurement officers, chiefs of the supply services, agencies concerned with production and the Commanding Officers for the Matériel Commands would recommend plants, complete with the reasons for such recommendations. An Award Board would review the recommended plants and decide on granting of the awards.

[chesterpiglet]

Here is the Navy Excellence Flag. It does have the E on as well so maybe mine is unrelated to the programme.