Flag - WW2 US Army Transportation Corps Unit Flag - Red ball express - Quartermaster

A nice 100% original and rare unit flag of the US Army Transportation Corps, which participated, for example, in the Red Ball Express campaigns on the Western Front. Beautiful stitched insignia and zinc grommets indicate mid/late war production (1943–1945). The flag has been used, so it shows some minor damage due to age, but is generally in great condition. See photos as they are part of the description. A really hard-to-find flag — see my hand for scale.

A great flag for your WWII collection!


On 9 March 1942 the Transportation Service was established as part of the Services of Supply. In March 1942, the transportation functions were consolidated into the Transportation Division of the newly created Services of Supply. On 31 July 1942, the Transportation Service became the Transportation Corps.[8] By the end of the war the Transportation Corps had moved more than 30 million soldiers within the continental United States; and 7 million soldiers plus 126 million tons of supplies overseas.[6] From the beginning in England in late May 1942, the Transportation Corps operations in the ETO were directed by Colonel (later Maj. Gen.) Frank S. Ross who had been selected by Maj. Gen. John C. H. Lee, Commanding General, Services of Supply (after the D-Day invasion called the Communications Zone, or Com-Z), European Theater of Operations.

One of the greatest feats of the Transportation Corps, via the Military Railway Service, was the rebuilding of France's shattered railroad network after D-Day and the transportation of 1,500 locomotives and 20,000 railway cars specially built for the lighter French track system starting with D-Day + 38. To speed the process, and avoid delays caused by French channel ports and docks destroyed by the retreating Germans, the Transportation Corps brought the heavy railroad stock across the channel and across the beaches in specially built LSTs.[9]

As allied forces rapidly advanced across France in the summer of 1944, a special transportation operation nicknamed the Red Ball Express was carried out from 25 August to 16 November. The Red Ball Express provided around the clock truck convoys from allied held ports to supply troops on the front in a giant, one-way loop. There were other lesser known truck-route express operations: the Green Diamond Express operated out of Cherbourg due south, to serve the forces advancing on Brittany and Brest. Later the White Ball Highway Express operated out of Le Havre to the same depots served by the Red Ball. Later still, the A B C Highway moved men and supplies from the Belgian port of Antwerp to the front. The story of the Red Ball Express was told in the 1950s movie Red Ball Express. There was a short lived television series in the early 1970s named Roll Out which focused on the experiences of a fictional African American motor transportation unit involved with the Red Ball Express.

Great and rare 100% original item for your US collection!