Original Item: Only One Available. Just received from the collection of a deceased flag collector, this is a wonderful WWII US Navy used 48 Star American Flag. This flag was donated to the Flag Heritage Foundation some time after the company’s founding by Antoinette Rungee, the widow of esteemed flag collector Dr. Clarence Rungee in 1971 and was a part of the Dr. Clarence R. Rungee Memorial Collection for many years. The flag was acquired by Heritage Auctions and sold for $4,250.00 in 2020, making this a spectacular deal!

The link for the auction details can be found here: Pearl Harbor Survivor - USS Cassin (DD-372).

Pearl Harbor Survivor - USS Cassin (DD-372). USS Cassin (DD-372) was commissioned in 1935. She was a Mahan-class destroyer and was the second ship named for Capt. Stephen Cassin (1783 - 1857), who served in the Quasi War with France, the War of 1812, and the 2nd Barbary War. Cassin spent her pre-war career homeported at Pearl Harbor with the Pacific Fleet.

The flag attributed to the Cassin is a cotton, 36" X 60", 48-star, dye printed starfield, sewn stripe flag finished with a header and grommets. The flag has a maker's mark of the Valley Forge Flag company on the upper obverse hoist. Valley Forge Flag Company was founded in 1882, and remains a family-owned business to this day. Steeped in history, the company began as a burlap sack business, and then moved on to World War I surplus, including American flags. With increasing demand the company opened a small sewing factory in Spring City, PA in 1932. The opening of this factory was the beginning of the Valley Forge Flag brand.

The flag is inscribed on the upper reverse hoist, "USS CASSIN (DD 372)" and was written in pencil by the curator at the time they received the flag from Antoinette Rungee. Dr. Rungee kept detailed records of all of his flags in his collection, and at the time of the arrival of his collection into the Flag Heritage Foundation, they wrote lightly on the flags in pencil that needed to remain identified if they were without original markings. The handwriting on the hoist is the same exact handwriting on the “Vexillological Inventory Form” from the foundation. The original form will be accompanying the flag. This form states that the flag was acquired in March of 1956 by Dr. Rungee.

The condition of the flag is really good and does show areas of wear and staining. There are a few scattered areas of holes and thread loss, but nothing too damaging to take away from the beauty of this artifact.

This is a wonderful flag with great history. Comes more than ready for further research and display!

Clarence Rungee
Dr. Clarence R. Rungee was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1888. He attended Temple University in Philadelphia and received an M.D. degree there, later working as a pharmacist and hospital director. He was active in Republican politics in New Haven for many years, and served on the city’s Board of Aldermen. As a veteran of World War I, Dr. Rungee acted as National Surgeon General of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and was National Historian of the Veterans of World War I.

When he died in 1971, Dr. Rungee had one of the most extensive and unusual private collections of flags anywhere. He had obtained more than 600 flags from all parts of the world and from such famous people as General Dwight Eisenhower, Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, President Syngman Rhee of South Korea, and President Chaim Weizmann of Israel. In addition to the flags, Dr. Rungee’s private museum included hundreds of autographed photographs of distinguished people. He displayed his flags in many lectures he delivered during the years 1947-1971. After Dr. Rungee’s death his widow, Antoinette Rungee, donated his flags (and copies of many of the autographs) to the Flag Heritage Foundation as the Dr. Clarence R. Rungee Memorial Collection.

USS Cassin (DD-372)
USS Cassin (DD-372) was a Mahan-class destroyer in the United States Navy before and during World War II. She was the second ship named for Stephen Cassin, an officer in the United States Navy.

Cassin was launched at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 28 October 1935. She was sponsored by Stephen Cassin's great granddaughter, Mrs. Helen Cassin Carusi Lombard, and commissioned 21 August 1936, with Lieutenant Commander A. G. Noble in command. Mrs. Lombard, at age nine, had also sponsored the first Cassin (DD-43) in 1913.

Cassin was in drydock with Downes and Pennsylvania at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack on 7 December 1941. During the attack, a low order detonation by a 250 kg (550 lb) bomb on Downes ruptured her fuel tanks, causing uncontrollable fires on board both Downes and Cassin. Cassin slipped from her keel blocks and rested against Downes. Both ships were considered lost, and Cassin was decommissioned as of 7 December 1941. Both ship's hulls were damaged beyond repair but machinery and equipment were salvaged and sent to Mare Island Navy Yard where entirely new ships were built around the salvaged material and given the wrecked ship's names and hull numbers.

Recommissioned 5 February 1944, Cassin reported at Pearl Harbor 22 April, and was assigned escort duty from Majuro until August. By shooting out caves and bombarding Aguijan, she aided in the consolidation of Tinian from 15 – 25 August, and then assumed escort duties out of Saipan. She took part in the bombardment of Marcus Island on 9 October. With the same force which had struck at Marcus, Cassin sailed on to join TG 38.1 on 16 October. Cassin steamed northeast of Luzon during the Leyte landings, and when the landings had been successfully launched, was dispatched with her group to refuel and replenish at Ulithi. However, when TF 38 made contact with the Japanese Center Force rounding the southern cape of Mindoro, bound for its part in the Battle for Leyte Gulf, Cassin's group was recalled to join the approaching action. In the afternoon of 25 October, her group at last reached position to launch aircraft which attacked the Japanese ships in one of the longest-range carrier strikes of the war.

Cassin's next assignment was to the preparations for the assault on Iwo Jima. On the night of 11–12 November 1944, and again on 24 January 1945, she bombarded the island, and otherwise engaged in patrol, escort, and radar picket duties around Saipan. On 23 February, she sailed from Saipan to escort an ammunition ship to newly invaded Iwo Jima, returning to Guam 28 February with a hospital ship. She returned to Iwo Jima in mid-March for radar picket and air-sea rescue duty. With periods at Guam and Saipan for replenishment and repairs, she continued on this duty through most of the remainder of the war.

Cassin endured a typhoon on 6 June 1945, losing one of her men (and a motor whaleboat) overboard. On 20 July, she bombarded Kita-Iwō-jima, and on 7 August, she boarded and searched a Japanese hospital ship to ensure compliance with international law. Since there were no violations, she allowed the ship to proceed on its way. With the war over, Cassin continued air-sea rescue off Iwo Jima, guarding the air evacuation of released prisoners of war from Japan.

She returned to Norfolk, Virginia, 1 November 1945, and was decommissioned there 17 December 1945. Cassin was sold for scrap on 25 November 1947. The Ensign that was flying on the ship during the attack on Pearl Harbor is currently displayed in the Jerry Falwell Library on the campus of Liberty University. Her ship's bell resides at the Office of Naval Intelligence in Suitland, MD