Traveling back from Rome to Regensburg last week, I spotted this shirt on the back of an Asian dude (from Asia? From Europe? Who knows?). 
WITH
THE STRENGTH OF AIRMAN
THAT FOUGHT IN ALL THE GREAT
BATTLES OF THE AIR WAR.
FROM BULL RUN TO APPOMATTOX
Can you spot what’s irking me?
Aw c’mon, Hawaii and Alaska aren’t real states, are they? They’re just for huntin’ and fishin’ and baskin’ in the sun ‘n stuff.
You’re thinking it’s about the number of states represented by stars on that flag? Nope, that’s not what irks me. Or at least not entirely. But that is what inspired me to go look up the evolution of the USA flag on Wikipedia. On a purely aesthetic level, I really like some of the older ones and potential new ones.
Also, The Honourable Husband suspects sarcasm here, but that’s too generous for my tastes.
Flying during the Battle of Appomatox? And Bull Run? Now THAT is a vivid imagination that dude’s got….
Yeah, or whoever designed the shirt.
Lest anyone decry the omission of observation balloons in the War Between the States: I don’t consider that war an “Air War” by any stretch. And the SPAD S.XIII patch is a dead give-away.
Milly wins it!
That’s rich. Totally missed the patch. Somewhere in China, I think those seamstresses are having a right good chuckle.
Now there’s the sarcasm!
It’s probably the result of “fashion design” that uses the technique developed for naming new subdivisions: three columns of possible items; pick one from each.
Ex. wood rock field
oak stone estate
pine tree knoll
cherry gate hill
river bank run
In the case of this shirt, it was a mix and match of historical place names, symbols, and phrases. Not quite the effect they were going for.
Love,
Mom