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Vietnam Viet Cong National Flag During the Tet Offensive....
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Sold on Nov 13, 2023 for:
$3,250.00
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Description
Vietnam Viet Cong National Flag During the Tet Offensive. This 27" X 36" cotton Viet Cong flag was presented to Ben Zaricor by members of Washington University Liberation Front (WULF) attendees at the Free Howard Mechanic Reunion Party April 21st, 2001, in St. Louis, Missouri.WULF developed out of anti-war and anti-ROTC protests and sentiments in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The organization was created to bring greater unity to student supporters, whose efforts culminated in the May 1970 student riots at Washington University, during which a student threw a firecracker at the protest at ROTC building resulting in the arrest and prosecution of many students. WULF alumni reunited in 2001 to lobby President Clinton to pardon Howard Mechanic for throwing the firecracker in 1970. These successful efforts were spearheaded by Ben Zaricor.
Little is known about the history of this specific Viet Cong flag. It was acquired by WULF with the provenance that it was a Viet Cong captured during the Tet Offensive in 1968 and brought home by a returning GI.
The National Liberation Front of Vietnam (Vietcong) adopted a horizontally red over blue flag with a yellow star in the center in 1960. This flag was also that of the (communist) Republic of South Vietnam, adopted on 8 June 1969. The "Vietcong" flag was simply a Democratic Republic of Vietnam flag with a blue lower half.
This flag is a war trophy, a practice that can be traced to antiquity. In ancient Greece and Rome, military victories were often formally commemorated with a display of captured arms and standards and cultural objects. In the Middle Ages; the European wars of the 17th and 18th centuries; and during the Napoleonic Wars variations of this were also practiced wherein armies returning home would often display flags captured from the enemy in public buildings or churches. In a public space as either a moral builder, or overt symbol of victory, or a reminder of a past martial or naval accomplishment; and in a church or place of worship as a homage to the Divinity for granting victory, or as a symbol of the power of the providence of God for their cause.
During WWII returning US soldiers from both the European and Pacific theatres of war sought, and highly prized both German and Japanese flags, which coincidentally were plentiful as a result of both political and cultural practices. The practice continued to a lesser extent during the Korean Conflict, it was revived again during the Vietnam War, and most recently in the conflicts in the Middle East.
Comparatively few captured Viet Cong flags have survived, and the association of this example with the Tet Offensive makes it a particularly desirable example.
Condition: light age. From the Zaricor Flag Collection.
View all of [The Zaricor Flag Collection ]
Auction Info
2023 November 13 - 14 Americana & Political Signature Auction Signature® Auction #6276 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
November, 2023
13th-14th
Monday-Tuesday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 7
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
Page Views: 436
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