Material Type

Artifact

Date Range From

1982

Date Range To

1985

Materials

COTTON, NYLON

No. Pieces

1

Height

16

Length

24

Diameter

17.3

Description

GREEN AND BROWN CAMOFLAGUE PATTERN CAP WITH BRIM ON FRONT. CAP HAS STITCHED BAND ALONG FRONT EDGE AND ABOVE BRIM; BRIM HAS STITCHING IN SEMI-CIRCLE PATTERN WITH GREEN THREAD. INSIDE OF CAP HAS GREEN LINING; CAP HAS FLAPS ALONG EDGE THAT FOLD UP INTO CAP OR FOLD DOWN TO EXTEND CAP. CAP HAS FADED GREEN TAG ON INSIDE WITH BLACK PRINTED TEXT “CAP, COMBAT, WOODLAND CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN, DLA100-32-C-2002, 8415-01-084-1686, 65% COTTON, 35% NYLON, PROPPER INTERNATIONAL INC., SIZE: 7 ¼”. CAP HAS FADED GREEN TAG BELOW WITH PRINTED BLACK TEXT “CAP, COMBAT, WOODLAND CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN, 1.DO NOT WEAR CAP IN COLD WEATHER ENVIRONMENTS. USE CAP IN COLD WEATHER, INSULATING HELMET LINER. 2.IF CAP IS WORN UNDER HELMET, HELMET HEAD BAND MAY REQUIRE READJUSTMENT FOR PROPER FIT AND COMFORT. 3.MACHINE WASH. USE PERMANENT PRESS CYCLE. WAS IN WARM WATER WITH MILD DETERGENT. 4.HAND WASH. HAND WASH IN WARM WATER USING MILD DETERGENT. DO NOT WRING OR TWIST. RINSE IN CLEAN WARM WATER. 5.DO NOT USE CHLORINE BLEACH OR STARCH. 6.DRY AT LOW HEAT (DO NOT EXCEED 130 [DEGREE SYMBOL]F). DO NOT REMOVE THIS LABEL”. TAGS ARE STITCHED ONTO CAP LINING. CAP IS CREASED AT FRONT; BRIM IS FADED; OVERALL VERY GOOD CONDITION.

Subjects

CLOTHING-HEADWEAR

Historical Association

MILITARY

PERSONAL CARE

History

ON DECEMBER 21, 2018, GALT MUSEUM CURATOR AIMEE BENOIT INTERVIEWED KEVIN MACLEAN REAGARDING HIS DONATION OF PERSONAL OBJECTS. THE OBJECTS DONATED BY MACLEAN REFLECTED HIS LIFE AND IDENTITY THROUGH HIS TIME IN LETHBRIDGE. ON THE CAMOFLAGUE CAP, MACLEAN ELABORATED, “THE HAT…WOULD FIT ME. [IT] WOULD BE AN ADULT’S HAT.” “FOR REASONS I DON’T KNOW OR UNDERSTAND, I’VE HAD, TO VARYING DEGREES OVER MY LIFE, AN INTEREST IN MILITARY STUFF. MY EARLIEST MEMORIES OF THAT INTEREST WOULD BE HANGING OUT WITH MY COUSIN BRYAN IN LETHBRIDGE, AND HIS DAD [HE DIDN’T SERVE IN KOREA]…[WHO WAS] ENLISTING RIGHT ABOUT THE TIME IN KOREA. MY COUSIN HAD HIS DAD’S DOG TAGS AND I REMEMBER RUNNING AROUND THE PARK, AND WE WOULD TELL EVERYONE WE WERE IN THE ARMY AND I THOUGHT THAT WAS PRETTY COOL. THAT WOULD BE PROBABLY BE IN THE LATE 1970S—’78, ’79, ’80—THERE’S A BUNCH OF OTHER STUFF THAT’S GOING ON AT THE SAME TIME, WITH ROCKETS. FOR SOME REASON, I HAD A THING ABOUT ROCKETS. THE SPACE SHUTTLE IS STARTING TO LAUNCH IN 1981…EVEN MY BEDROOM WAS ROCKET-BASED STUFF. IN THE EARLY ‘80S—’81, ’82—I WAS TWELVE. MY COUSIN, WHOSE NAME IS REG, MY MOM’S NEPHEW...BY 1982 HE COMES TO LIVE WITH US AND HE’S ABOUT SIX YEARS OLDER THAN I AM. HE WOULD BE THE CLOSEST THING THAT I WOULD HAVE TO A BROTHER, DEFINITELY, AT THE TIME. TO HAVE A BROTHER WHO’S [A HANDSOME GUY] AND [WHO HAS] THIS BACKGROUND OF HAVING LIVED IN HAWAII AND ARIZONA…YOU CAN IMAGINE IN YOUR HOUSE, WHEN YOU’RE TWELVE YEARS OLD, HAVING THIS FAMILY MEMBER.” “[IT] WAS REALLY COOL AND HE’S AN INTERESTING GUY AND SUPER FUNNY. AT SOME POINT, HE DECIDES TO LEAVE LETHBRIDGE AFTER HE’S BEEN LIVING HERE, IN THE CITY AND IN OUR HOME, FOR A COUPLE OF YEARS. HE JOINS THE U.S. ARMY BECAUSE HE’S GOT AMERICAN PERMANENT RESIDENCY. I THINK HE HAD PERMANENT RESIDENCY ANYWAYS ‘CAUSE HE GREW UP THERE. HE GOES BACK AND HE JOINS.” “HE JUST MADE A LIFE CHOICE TO JOIN THE MILITARY…AND THIS [CAMOUFLAGE] PATTERN WAS DEVELOPED IN 1981 SO IT’S RELATIVELY NEW. BEFORE THAT, THEY WERE IN GREEN STUFF WHICH—WHEN YOU THINK OF M.A.S.H.—[WAS] THAT LOOK, THROUGH VIETNAM.” “[IT WAS DEVELOPED] BY THE U.S. MILITARY. SOMETIMES…I LIKE CERTAIN, SPECIFIC THINGS AND I’M NOT HAPPY WITH ANYTHING ELSE. I IDENTIFY THIS AS BEING SPECIAL BECAUSE IT’S JUST THE SOLDIERS THAT ARE WEARING IT. SO, I WANT IT. I DON’T KNOW IF HE IS IN [THE ARMY], BY THEN. POTENTIALLY, HE IS. I REMEMBER TELLING MY PARENTS I WANTED CAMOUFLAGE AND I LITERALLY REMEMBER GOING INTO A DEPARTMENT STORE AT THE TIME AND THERE WAS [NOTHING] THERE...THROUGH THE ‘70S AND EARLY ‘80S YOU COULDN’T FIND IT. AT THE SAME TIME, [DEPARTMENT STORES] WERE STARTING TO DEVELOP HUNTING CAMOUFLAGE, WHICH I’VE NEVER CONNECTED WITH.” “SO, I SAID, “NO, I DON’T WANT HUNTING CAMO—THIS [ARMY CAMO] IS WHAT I WANT.” NEEDLESS TO SAY, REG IS IN THE MILITARY AND, IN 1983, HE’S SENDING ME LETTERS BACK, HE COMES BACK FOR A VISIT. IT COULD BE WITHIN SIX MONTHS OF HIS JOINING…HE BRINGS THIS [CAP] BACK FOR ME WHICH HE BOUGHT DOWN THERE. HE COULD HAVE BEEN IN THE CAROLINAS AND HE GAVE ME THIS CAP, WHICH HAPPENS TO BE HIS OWN, PERSONAL [MILITARY ISSUE] CAP. AS PRESENTS GO, IT WOULDN’T HAVE COST HIM A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF MONEY. BUT, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND IN CANADA, LET ALONE IN LETHBRIDGE AND THIS IS AT A TIME THAT THERE IS NO INTERNET. ANYTIME YOU WANT SOMETHING, YOU HAVE TO DO IT BY MAIL AND THIS IS RECENTLY DEVELOPED TECHNOLOGY. IT WOULD BE TWO YEARS OLD.” ON HIS TIME WEARING THE CAP, MACLEAN RECALLED, “I WOULD GUESS I’M THIRTEEN [WHEN I’M GIVEN THE UNIFORM]. I WOULD HAVE BEEN IN APPROXIMATELY GRADE 8.” “IN TERMS OF THE WEAR OF THIS…IF YOU LOOK AT THE LABEL IT’S BEEN WORN. I DID WEAR IT. I WOULD BE SO PROUD TO WEAR A HAT THAT MY COUSIN, WHO IS IN THE U.S. ARMY, WAS WEARING…SO TREMENDOUSLY PROUD. I PROBABLY WORE THE HAT MORE BECAUSE I WAS VERY SELF-CONSCIOUS OF STICKING OUT. IF YOU ARE IN THE EARLY ‘80S, WEARING CAMOUFLAGE, THEN IT’S JUST…NUMBER ONE, IT WASN’T A TIME THAT YOU WANTED TO STICK OUT. THIS WOULD [HAVE SEEN] SOME WEAR BECAUSE HE HAD WORN IT HIMSELF [IN THE ARMY] DOWN IN THE STATES BEFORE HE GAVE IT TO ME.” “[AT THE TIME] I STILL HAVE SOME SMALL INTEREST IN THIS SUBJECT MATTER. TO THE POINT WHERE [I WAS INTERESTED IN] WHAT THE CANADIANS WERE WEARING OVERSEAS IN AFGHANISTAN.” MACLEAN ELABORATED ON HIS INTEREST IN THE JACKET AND MILITARY HISTORY, NOTING, “WHILE ALL THIS IS GOING ON—THE 1980S—AS A KID, AND I DON’T KNOW IF IT WAS JUST ME ‘CAUSE I WAS A NEWS JUNKIE, THE COLD WAR WAS A BIG DEAL IN THE EARLY ‘80S. THERE WERE SHOWS ON TV THAT WERE SCARING THE CRAP OUT OF ME…TO SAY THE LEAST, I WAS KIND OF SEMI-OBSESSED WITH THE SUBJECT MATTER. “ “I WOULD BE CONFIDENT THAT BY GRADE 10, I WAS NOT WEARING IT…MY INTEREST MOVED INTO THE SECOND WORLD WAR.” “AGAIN, [REG IS] LIKE AN OLDER BROTHER TO ME. I GOT SOME PRETTY NICE GIFTS WHEN I WAS A KID. BUT, SOMEBODY BRINGING THIS BACK, ALL THE WAY FROM THE CAROLINAS, OR WHERE HE WAS POSTED—AND THE FACT THAT PROBABLY, EVEN BY ’85, IT WOULD BE NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND, ALTHOUGH YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO GET IT AT A SURPLUS STORE BY THEN—IT HAD A LOT OF MEANING TO ME. SO I’VE HUNG ONTO IT.” FOR MORE INFORMATION INCLUDING ARTICLES FROM THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD, BRANDON SUN, MEDICINE HAT NEWS, AND THE FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTION, PLEASE SEE THE PERMANENT FILE P20180029001-GA.

Catalogue Number

P20180029002

Acquisition Date

2018-12

Collection

Museum

Less detail