The first American flag returned 75 years after D-Day

Flag house, their house. With these words, Rotterdam businessman Bert Krug presented the first American D-Day flag to then-President Donald Trump in Washington. The flag arrived eighty years ago on Utah Beach in Normandy alongside the first American allies. 75 years later it has not returned to America. A special moment from the WNL documentary The Arrival of the Flag of D-Day will air on NPO 2 tonight at 10:45 p.m.

An avid art collector, Crook and his uncle Theo Schools were able to purchase the special item for half a million euros. “The people who came ashore here didn’t ask if you were a Republican or a Democrat, black or white,” Crook said, standing on the Normandy beach. “They came ashore for all of us. They died for us all. That is the meaning behind that flag.

Seven million dollars

Crook could have sold the flag for a lot of money. At one point, it was paid seven million dollars. But the enthusiast didn’t want the piece to end up in a private collection. His goal was to personally hand over the flag to Army chief Donald Trump.

“I see the handing over of the flag as a gift to the American people, a symbolic gift for the liberation of the Netherlands,” Kruk says. Initially, the Rotterdam resident hoped to donate the flag to Trump on the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Scheldt in Terneuzen in 1944. The former president was unable to attend, so Kreuk decided to accept the White House’s invitation.

Trump thanked Crook profusely during an impressive ceremony in the East Wing of the White House. “Thank you for preserving our history and preserving the immortal legacy of our heroes of D-Day,” the former president said. He winked: “It cost a lot of money. You must be rich.

In 2017, two Dutch businessmen bought the first American flag to land in Normandy on D-Day for half a million euros. The story of Bert Crook and Theo Scholes who want to return the D-Day flag to America can be seen tonight at 10:45 PM on NPO 2.

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By: Michael Van Rensselaer