Flagman’s world of flags

From LEP.co.uk

A soldier who helped raise the red flag over the Reichstag has died reports The Times

 

A Red Army soldier who appeared in an iconic photograph of a Soviet flag flying from the ruins of Hitler’s Reichstag has died, aged 93.

Abdulkhakim Ismailov had fought all the way to Berlin from the Battle of Stalingrad three years earlier, where the destruction of the German Sixth Army turned the tide against the Nazi regime in the Second World War.

But he was only recognised half a century later as one of three soldiers raising the Hammer and Sickle flag in a picture that was staged by the Tass photographer Yevgeny Khaldei in May 1945, three days after Berlin fell to the Soviet Army.

He was decorated as a Hero of Russia in 1996 after being named as one of the soldiers standing beneath the man holding the flagpole. He died on Tuesday in his native village of Chagar-Otar in the southern Russian region of Dagestan, the regional government said.

“His enormous life experience and services to the Motherland will remain forever in the memory of today’s and tomorrow’s generations,” it said in a statement. Soldiers from a local garrison fired a military salute at the funeral yesterday after Mr Ismailov’s coffin had been carried past the village school named in his honour.

The Reichstag photograph has been compared for its historical impact to the Associated Press picture of American soldiers raising the flag of the United States at Iwo Jima in 1945. Mr Khaldei later disclosed that he had sown the flag together from three tablecloths in Moscow after being ordered to fly to Berlin to capture the Nazi defeat.

A group of Soviet soldiers had briefly raised a Hammer and Sickle over the Riechstag on April 30 but it had been brought down by German snipers before any record had been made. Mr Khaldei recruited a teenage private, Aleksei Kovalyev to hold the flag with his comrade Aleksei Goryachev and Mr Ismailov.

Mr Khaldei, who died in 1997, shot dozens of pictures of the scene with his Leica camera and later admitted that he doctored the image when he returned to Moscow to develop them. One soldier was wearing two watches and the photographer scratched one of them out of the negative to avoid allegations that he was undermining the Red Army’s heroic image by showing evidence of looting.

Mr Ismailov’s role might have been lost to history until Mr Kovalyev identified him in a television documentary in 1995 to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the war. He was decorated by the Kremlin the following year.

He was wounded five times, including at Stalingrad in 1942, while fighting with a motorised infantry division. He worked as the chairman of a collective farm after the war and was a Communist Party official.

His death comes as Russia prepares major celebrations to mark the 65th anniversary of the victory over Hitler. Britain and the United States have been invited to send troops to join a parade on Red Square on May 9.

New in amongst our Sewn flag selection (click here) are the nylon flags in Union jack and St George.

Nylon is very popular in the US where they know a thing or two about flags!

 

The design is sewn, as a proper flag should be and the material hard wearing, but the are a fraction of the price of the woven polyester MOD type flags.

 

At the moment we only have these two flags but we will be looking to extend the range, so please check back.

Quite right too!

 From digitalspy

 

Glastonbury-goers have voted in favour of keeping flags at the Somerset event.

While early figures on the festival’s official site had revealed opinion to be fairly split, the results have since swung against the ban.

Around 13,000 votes were counted on the contentious subject, with 55% (7,269 votes) in favour of the flags and 45% (5,909 votes) against.

The survey was conducted by organisers of the Worthy Farm bash following Download Festival’s recent decision to exclude flags from its main site in 2010.

A Glastonbury representative said of the outcome: “So, it’s a narrow win for keeping. Big thanks to everyone for taking part.

“As well as the result itself, it’s been really useful to get an idea of the passion this debate raises among festival-goers, by reading your comments across the web.

Here is a bizarre little application for your iphone.

An educational game in which you identify international flags. Great news for flag enthusiast but perhaps a little of a minority choice. Still the advert says it is addictive.

 From Know your mobile

If you live in the UK, the US or much of Europe then you might enjoy the relative normality of your country’s flag. Some might think it boring, but either way, the simple designs are easy to draw or pick out from a group when the need arises.Some countries in far corners of the world have some downright obscure flags which make them harder to learn. The intricate designs and symbols confuse us lowly westerners and leave us embarrassed at pub quizzes when we have no idea to which country the described flag belongs.

Thankfully, we now have Flags Fun to help us avoid such situations. The name might be cheesy and an obvious attempt at making learning sound like entertainment but by gum if you don’t learn your flags by end of a couple of hours with this app then we’ll eat a Union Jack.

There are two modes of play. The first is similar to the simple card game, Pairs, where cards – or indeed flags – are laid face-down on a table. You’re allowed to turn two over at a time and you must remember the location of matched pairs of flags.

The game looks great, with twenty tiles per screen with a stylish design on the back and curved corners, all very much in-line with the sexy iPhone. Each time you match up two correct flags a chime sounds and the name of the country to which the flag belongs appears at the bottom. It’s an effective way to learn and – dare we say it – it’s actually pretty fun too.

You’ve guaranteed to learn a great many flags in this mode that were previously a mystery. Once you’ve done so, it’s time to move on to the ‘Guess the flag’ game mode.

An array of 20 flags is displayed on the screen and a country’s name can be found down the bottom. You must guess which of flags is the corresponding design. This is trickier than the ‘Flags match’  game but should give you a good test when you start becoming familiar with things.

Flags Fun is a remarkably addictive app. You’re given scores and times as you play through the game which gives you something to compete against and it is genuinely useful for learning country’s flags.

If this is something that you either need or would like to do, then you’d be hard pushed to find a more fun, and economic way

 

From the Telegraph 

Mrs Covey has been proudly holding aloft a legion flag pole at remembrance services and commemorations for three decades.

But now, despite her good health and physical fitness, the former air force cook has gone ‘’beyond the age of insurance'’, the Legion said.

Officials from her branch in Wellington, Somerset, have assured Mrs Covey the decision is not personal. Their national rules state 85 is the oldest insurable age and she must stop.

Mrs Covey last carried the flag for the Women’s Section, Wellington And District Branch, on November 11.

She takes no medication and can still drive a car. The standard pole carried by legion members is around eight-feet long, and has brass adornments including a spike on top.

Speaking from her home in Wellington, Mrs Covey said: ‘’They told me that I am not insured after the age of 85 so I asked if I could insure myself, as my son is a broker, and they said no.

‘’But I have been serving for the past two years and no one has said anything until now. I have a pair of good legs and arms, I am not on any medication and my eyesight and heart is good.

‘’I can drive a car but I can’t hold a standard.'’

She has been carrying out standard bearer duties for the Wellington branch and for the Southampton branch since 1974.

She served for four years as a cook in the RAF during the Second World War as well as working for decades with the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS).

As well as being chair of the women’s section of the legion branch, she has received the Queen’s medal and various honours in recognition of her work and service.

The standard has to be given back to the legion branch next week but Mrs Covey said she will just leave it outside her front door because she cannot bear to hand it over.

‘’I feel very sad about it, I have shed a few tears, now I am angry about it,'’ she said. ‘’I am very proud to be part of Wellington and to show the flag and my medals.

‘’I felt like giving it all up, but I am very devoted to the legion and I will continue with my other duties.'’

Mrs Covey is now two years past the official age limit and the local legion said it could not ignore the rules forever.

British Legion county chairman, Major Rikki Peters (retired), said the organisation had public liability insurance for events that ended at the age of 85.

Major Peters said: ‘’If Mrs Covey is carrying the standard - or even if she just trips - and it happens to swing down and hit someone then she would not be insured.

‘’I understand that she must be bitterly, bitterly disappointed, but it is a fact of life and there’s is really nothing we can do about it.'’

British Legion county secretary Monica Summers said: ‘’This is nothing personal. It’s the rule book and I have to comply with it, and unfortunately Mrs Covey is beyond the age of insurance.'’

From the BBC

 

The UK has apologised to Spain after the Royal Navy used a buoy with the Spanish colours for target practice.

The exercise took place off the coast of Gibraltar earlier this week. The UK ambassador was summoned to the foreign ministry in Madrid to explain.

According to local reports, the navy hastily removed the buoy, which had a red-and-yellow marker, when approached by a Spanish police launch on Tuesday.

Ambassador Giles Paxman conceded it was insensitive and an error of judgement.

While acknowledging that the target had appeared “similar” to the Spanish flag, he insisted that was not what it was supposed to represent.

And he assured his hosts there would be no repetition of the incident.

Later the UK Ministry of Defence clarified that the colours were those of a maritime signal flag used by Nato.

“HMS Scimitar was using Flag No1 during gunnery practice - not the Spanish national flag,” a spokesperson said.

“Flag No1 is traditionally used on gunnery targets due to its high visibility - however, we recognise its similarity to the Spanish national flag and will use an alternative marker during gunnery practice in this area in the future.”

Gibraltar remains the lingering source of tension in an otherwise good relationship between the UK and Spain.

The UK claims a radius of three nautical miles around the Rock of Gibraltar as British territorial waters.

Spain disputes this, and in recent months there have been bad-tempered verbal exchanges between the Royal Navy and the Spanish police.

Spain’s main opposition Popular Party has urged the government to demand what it calls the “respect that Spain deserves”.