PHILADELPHIA –
Defense leaders presented the Space Force flag to President Donald J. Trump May 15 at the White House in Washington, D.C. The flag was created at the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support flag room in Philadelphia.
The flag represents the newly created armed service, and will hang alongside those of the other military services at the White House.
The Army Institute of Heraldry provided the flag room with drawings for the Space Force flag.
“These drawings tell us exactly how to make the flag, and we take great pride in the accuracy and precision we use to interpret the flag into embroidery, following each specification, dimension, color and design that they give us,” Linda Farrell, flag room supervisor said. “We try to achieve an embroidered piece of art on every flag that we make so that we convey the symbolism, pride and emotion that the colors represent.”
Digitizer Adam Walstrum worked on the Space Force flag using embroidery machine technology and described elements of the production process.
“It’s such an incredible experience bringing life to these drawings,” Walstrum said. “Digitizing is a really interesting art form because every digitizer is going to treat it differently depending on the different material you’re working on, the design itself and [the machine itself].”
Completing the flag is truly a team effort.
Following Walstrum’s machine embroidery, Farrell completed all the technical hand sewing and fusing. Finishing the flag, Nancy Chhim, seamstress, sewed on the label and fringing.
Gen. John “Jay” Raymond, Commander, U.S. Space Force, visited the flag room in early March to meet the embroidery team and see the flag-making process first-hand.
“It was an honor to personally meet with the talented Troop Support team that made the first U.S. Space Force flag,” Raymond said. “They’re part of history in the making as we continue to establish the heritage of our nation’s newest armed service.”
Raymond signed the Space Force flag on base fabric that would be covered with stitches. He also laid the first batch of stiches for the Space Force emblem by starting the embroidery machine.
“We appreciate you choosing the flag room to make the first Space Force flag,” Farrell told Raymond. “The flag room has a rich history of embroidery, and now the Space Force is going to be the next chapter in our story.”
The flag room is also making flags for the chief of Space Operations, the vice chief of Space Operations, and general officer flags.
Before leaving the flag room, Raymond met each of the embroidery specialists and digitizers and presented them coins of appreciation.
“I learned a lot today, and it was great to meet the team and see them in action,” Raymond said.
While the flag room continues to make Space Force flags, broad commercial availability of flags is still in the works.