D-DAY FLAGS FLOWN FROM THE TUGBOAT ATR-3.

D-DAY FLAGS FLOWN FROM THE TUGBOAT ATR-3.
[In action off Normandy from June 6th to mid July 1944.]
Two 48-Star American flags, from the US rescue tug, Oliver Raymond Bell, patrolling the shipping lanes offshore from D-day onwards, and throughout June 1944:
1. Woolen flag with 48 sewn cotton stars, 1150 x 900 mm. Stained and badly smoke damaged, with the fly almost entirely blown out.
2. Smaller flag, of thinner wool with cotton sewn stars, 900 x 1430 mm. Faded, white stripes discolored, and with parts of the fly partially blown out.
Provenance: Oliver Raymond Bell, USN, 1918-2009, sold at Giguere Auctions, New Hampshire, July 28th, 2018.

ATR-3, was a powerful ocean-going US rescue tug boat, commissioned in 1942, and brought into Operation Overlord as rescue vessels. Their role from D-Day onwards was to patrol the shipping lanes, and rush to the scene of a disabled vessel and assist fire fighting and other rescue operations. They had wooden hulls, were 165 feet long, 800-900 tons, max speed 12 knots, with a 34 foot beam, and crewed by 3 officers and up to 35 men. They provided an important fire and rescue service for the 1000s of ships gathered offshore the Normandy coast. After the Normandy operations, ATR-3 was sent to the Mediterranean, and after the war was sold on to Cuba. Oliver Raymond Bell enlisted in the US Navy in February 1940, served on various ships in California, and joined the ATR-3 in December 1943, when the tug boat was commissioned.