Smithsonian Institution curator Jennifer Jones, and the US flag made by Islay locals is in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC The flag was put together by five Islay townspeoplev - Jessie McLellann, Mary Cunningham, Catherine McGregor, Mary Armour and John McDougall spent hours sewing the stars and stripes, just a few hours ahead of the first funeral for the deceased soldiers, according to The National, a Scottish newspaper.

100-year-old flag made for US soldiers who died during World War I returns to Scottish island 

via the Fox News web site

A 100-year-old flag used in the funeral of U.S. troops on a small Scottish island during World War I is making it back to where it originated from as part of a remembrance of the Great War.

Currently held in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington D.C., the flag is making a trek back across the Atlantic to where it was put together, the Scottish island of Islay. It was used in funerals for the more than 200 American soldiers who drowned when the SS Tuscania was hit with a torpedo by a German U-boat.

The ship departed Hoboken, N.J. on Jan. 24 1918, with 384 crewmen and more than 2,000 U.S. Army personnel and was headed for Liverpool. The German U-boat, UB-77, eventually sank the Tuscania on Feb. 5, 1918 when it fired two torpedoes at the ship, causing it to sink in about four hours.

The flag was put together by five people, according to a letter by Hugh Morrison, the Laird of Islay Estate to President Woodrow Wilson. Jessie McLellann, Mary Cunningham, Catherine McGregor, Mary Armour and John McDougall spent hours sewing the stars and stripes, just a few hours ahead of the first funeral for the deceased soldiers, according to The National, a Scottish newspaper.

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