High Commissioner, Pacific Island Trust Territory

The flag had the High Commissioner's (HICOM) seal in dark blue in a white field. While browsing though the Trust Territory archives at the University of Hawaii library's website, I found a photo of the flagpoles that sat outside the TTPI headquarters in Saipan. The photo shows the HICOM's flag on one pole and US and TTPI flags on the other two poles. The office of High Commissioner lasted until 1986, when the Compacts (and the last bits of the Covenant) went into effect for the F.S. of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. (Palau agreed to a Compact of their own in January 1986, but it took Palau eight years to approve to document. In 1994, the process reached its end. By this time, the office of HICOM and the HICOM's flag had fallen into disuse, with any remaining responsibilities for Palau going to the Interior Department.)

The photo was taken in 1963 by the TTPI Department of Public Affairs Public Information Office. The photo can be found on the University's website with other photos.

I have a copy of the photo at http://hoshie.mozfaq.org/TTPI_flagpole.jpg
Joshua Holman, 5 May 2005