The patch on the back of Lambert's A-2 jacket is the Flying Tigers blood chit. These patches were issued to US pilots flying in China during WWII so they could be returned safely by Chinese civilians (most of whom didn't speak English) to local US air bases, thus saving many lives. The flag on the chit is the Nationalist Chinese flag (now Taiwan). It read, "This man is an American fighting for China. Please save and protect him as a fellow soldier." The Flying Tigers were a group of maverick pilots flying for Chiang-Kai-Shek and in a period of seven months, they shot down over 1,000 Japanese planes in the air and on the ground while suffering only a few casualties. The jacket was government issued and didn't include side-entry pockets.
