BANGOR, Maine — There is no way to confirm the history of an American flag that was presented to Navy veteran Harold E. Tate, but the rumor is it was lowered and removed from a ship that sank during the World War II Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines.
“A guy in the battle gave him the flag,” Tate’s daughter Sandee Barber of Brewer said recently. “Dad was very interested in receiving it and donating it to the [Maine] Veterans’ Home” in Bangor, where he now resides.
Tate joined the Navy just after high school and served on the USS Leyte, which was commissioned to honor all who died in the historic battle, which saw Gen. Douglas MacArthur return to the island country after promising to do so three years earlier.
The person who gave the 48-star flag to Tate has since died so there is no way to confirm its authenticity, Barber said.
Disabled American Veterans state commander George Mathis said he believes the story about the flag.
“I got chills just holding that flag,” he said.
Mathis ceremoniously delivered the flag a couple of weeks ago to Tate, who now resides at the Maine Veterans’ Home in Bangor. Tate presented it to administrator Greg Urban on Friday.
Urban unfolded the six-foot flag on Friday and found a note inside that read “Oct. 24-25, 1944 Taskforce 38. Battle at Leyte Gulf.”
The deadly Battle of Leyte Gulf, which lasted from Oct. 23 to Oct. 26, 1944, eventually freed the Philippines from the grip of the Imperial Japanese Navy and was the first time Japanese kamikaze pilots were sent on suicide missions. Task Force 38 was part of the 3rd Fleet.
Two destroyers, the USS Hoel and USS Johnston, a destroyer escort and two escort carriers were sunk in the largest naval battle in history.
Tate told Urban that he wants the flag displayed at the veterans home. There are lots of areas in the home where the flag can be displayed, Urban said.
“It’s not in bad shape,” he said. “It’s yellowed and musty smelling, but otherwise beautiful.”