The 48-star flag is an understated legend. While we all love Alaska and Hawaii, the United States became back-to-back World War champions when the Stars and Stripes had only 48 stars. That’s the vibe Firebrand Flags founder Kyle Daniels was trying to recreate when he jumped into Normandy for the 80th Anniversary of D-Day in 2024.
“I was thinking about the legacy of World War II soldiers,” Daniels told We Are the Mighty. “D-Day is one of the most pivotal days in human history. If that day didn’t happen, the whole course of human history would be different, and I don’t think we can commemorate that enough. That’s what we made this flag for.”
Although the 80th anniversary of D-Day has passed, Firebrand Flags still has a few 48-star American flags that jumped into Normandy that day. The company is offering them at a discount for D-Day 2025. For a limited time, the 48-star Old Glory is $100 off, but if you bundle it with another flag, you can get 50% off the entire order.
Daniels, an Army Special Forces veteran, created Firebrand Flags in 2016, at a time when Americans – not just America’s enemies – were putting Old Glory to the torch. That didn’t sit well with him for many reasons. He decided to make a flag here in the United States that was impossible to burn. It took four years, but now there’s not a flammenwerfer on Earth that could burn his flags.
“A Firebrand Flag is, simply put, a flag that won’t burn,” he said. “It’s a flag that can defend itself; a flag that’s made of the same materials that our men and women in uniform wear that protect them when they’re in combat. It’s a flag that doesn’t just embody our fighting spirit but can actually defend itself from people who want to do harm to it or disparage it.”
When the 80th anniversary of D-Day rolled around in 2024, he (and many other veterans) got the opportunity to parachute into Normandy. It was no ordinary airborne exercise, either. He made his commemorative jump from an actual C-47 Skytrain (dubbed “Placid Lassie”) that flew over occupied France in the early morning hours of June 6, 1944. He decided he would bring along a few hundred of Firebrand’s World War II-era 48-star flags.
“We made the 48-star flag to honor the 80th anniversary of D-Day,” said Daniels. “The 48-star flag is what was on every plane, every ship, everywhere there was an American flag at that period of time. That’s what those soldiers saw. That’s what kept them going. They saw that 48-star flag, and that’s what we want to commemorate.”
How the company confirms a flag jumped into Normandy is probably the most exciting part of these special editions. For civilians and veterans unfamiliar with airborne operations, every jumper on an airborne operation has a jump log associated with that jumper.
Each D-Day anniversary flag that went into Normandy with a paratrooper will get its own jump log. Each jump log is hand-signed by the trooper who jumped it in, embossed on a certificate. This makes the 48-star flags truly special items for history buffs, especially World War II history buffs. For Kyle Daniels, he was just happy to be making the jump.
“Here I am, actually in their plane, just trying to connect with the feelings of those 19- to 25-year-old kids who risked their lives,” he said. “I know it’s not going to be anywhere near what it was like back in 1944. I just want to help keep the memory of those veterans alive and make sure that what they did does not get forgotten.”
To learn more about Firebrand Flags and see its other flag offerings, visit the website. For more information about the commemorative 48-star flag, check out the D-Day anniversary edition.
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