First American flag planted on D-Day auctioned for $500K

Dutch art collector Bert Kreuk bought the first American flag plated on D-Day via a telephonic auction for over 500 thousand dollars, the Volkskrant reports. The flag he bought is the first American flag that came ashore on Utah Beach during D-Day - the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6th, 1944. The flag was on the bow of Howard Vander Beek's ship - the only one of three landing ships that made it to the Utah beach. The frayed flag, including bullet holes, was in the possession of Vander Beek for 60 years, before he died at the age of 97 in 2014. Kreuk considers the purchase of this piece an emotional one, rather than a financial one. "During the bidding by telephone, I only thought of the people who died on the beach. Money was not important. Normally when I buy art, I always have a limit, but freedom has no price tag", he said to the Volkskrant.