A handmade U.S. flag was made at the direction of Newark Valley native Sgt. Roland Noble of the 260th Infantry, 65th Division, 3rd U.S. Army, and was first flown at Linz, Austria, on 8 May 1945. Gen. “Blood and Guts” George S. Patton, commanding the U.S. 3rd Army, believed it to be the first U.S. flag flown in Europe following the end of W.W. II. It was later flown here with full military honors on 2 July 1984, officially received, and placed in the U.S. Army Infantry Museum at Fort Benning, Georgia.