the flag had a bar along the top toi keep it errect,i have a larger version of all of those pictures,my grandfather was in the air force at the time and got some origanal copys(as in they weren't made last year in some factory in china)the one i'm looking at right now is the one with irwin,next to the flag saluteing it,you can clearly see the frame of the flag,as for the stars i'm curiouse too,i'm going to see if i can find the rest of these pictures.