This red flag with a white eagle is a World War I banner that was used for recruiting soldiers of Polish descent to join the Polish Army to fight in France. There was a Polish Army Headquarters’ recruiting office in Holyoke, Massachusetts which was home to many Polish immigrants.

From Jans Lorys, Polish Museum of America: “Recruiting banner or flag dedicated for the Polish Army in France.  This force was organized in France by proclamation on June 7, 1917.  While recruiting in France did not bring out the numbers needed, it was decided to send a mission to the United States which had a large Polish Diaspora.  When the delegation arrived here they were amazed what was transpiring.  Since 1905, when the Japanese beat the Russians in Asia, the Poles in America saw that one of the partitioning powers was weak.  The Balkan wars of 1912 showed that Europe was a powder keg.   When the French delegation arrived the Falcons, a gymnastics group that conducted para-military training, had made arrangements to train officers in Canada for a future Polish Army.  (The Canadians had been fighting in WW1 since 1914.)  The US was gearing up to process 4 million men for the AEF.  The Falcons also were training sergeants and officers in the States.    The final arrangements among the French, the US, the Canadians and the Polish Americans, allowed those Poles not yet American citizens, but “enemy aliens” (since there was no Poland, Poles came here on Russian, German and Austrians passports) to enlist in the Polish Army in France.  About 38,00 did of which 25,000 went to training camp in Niagara-on-the Lake, Ontario and 20,000 plus went to France, and eventually to Poland in 1919.  Since there was no Polish government everyone produced their own “Polish” flag or banner. While many flags include a crown above the eagle, this particular one does not, as it was meant for recruiting Polish-Americans.”