JACKET
https://collections.galtmuseum.com/link/artifact13432
- Material Type
- Artifact
- Date Range From
- 1982
- Date Range To
- 1985
- Materials
- COTTON, NYLON
- Catalogue Number
- P20180029003
- Material Type
- Artifact
- Date Range From
- 1982
- Date Range To
- 1985
- Materials
- COTTON, NYLON
- No. Pieces
- 1
- Length
- 74.6
- Width
- 41
- Description
- GREEN AND BROWN CAMOFLAGUE PATTERN JACKET. JACKET FRONT HAS FOUR POCKETS ON CHEST; POCKETS HAVE BROWN PLASTIC BUTTONS UNDER OUTER FLAPS. JACKET FRONT HAS FIVE BROWN PLASTIC BUTTONS ON RIGHT WEARING SIDE AND BUTTON LOOPS ON LEFT WEARING SIDE; BUTTONS AND BUTTON LOOPS ARE TUCKED UNDER FLAP RUNNING DOWN FRONT. JACKET SLEEVES HAVE LARGE SQUARE PATCHES OF CAMOFLAGUE PATTERN SEWN ONTO TOP OF SLEEVE; SLEEVE CUFFS HAVE THREE BROWN PLASTIC BUTTONS SEWN ON. INSIDE OF JACKET LINED WITH OPAQUE GREEN LINING; JACKET HAS GREEN TAG INSIDE COLLAR. TAG IS FADED AND TEXT INDECIPHERABLE. JACKET HAS GREEN TAG INSIDE RIGHT WEARING SIDE; TAG IS FADED AND TEXT INDECIPHERABLE. BACK OF JACKET HAS SMALL RIP ON RIGHT SIDE; LOWER EDGE OF JACKET HAS FRAYED THREADS; RIGHT SLEEVE HAS SMALL WHITE STAIN; FRONT LOWER LEFT POCKET HAS WHITE RUB MARKS AT LOWER LEFT CORNER; LEFT CUFF HAS FRAYING THREADS INSIDE; OVERALL VERY GOOD CONDITION.
- Subjects
- CLOTHING-OUTERWEAR
- 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 JACKET, MACLEAN ELABORATED, “THE JACKET…IS NOT FOR AN ADULT; IT WOULD BE FOR A CHILD.” “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 [SELL] 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 [JACKET] BACK FOR ME WHICH HE BOUGHT DOWN THERE. HE COULD HAVE BEEN IN THE CAROLINAS AND HE ALSO GAVE ME [A] 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.” “MY BELIEF IS THAT THEY WOULD HAVE HAD STORES ON THE BASES WHERE [SERVICE MEMBERS] COULD BUY THEIR OWN THINGS THAT SERVE THEIR OWN PERSONAL NEEDS. I’M PRETTY SURE THAT THIS IS WHERE HE GOT [THE JACKET]—IS FROM A STORE ON THE BASE.” ON HIS TIME WEARING THE JACKET, MACLEAN RECALLED, “I WOULD GUESS I’M THIRTEEN [WHEN I’M GIVEN THE UNIFORM]. I WOULD HAVE BEEN IN APPROXIMATELY GRADE 8.” “I PROBABLY WORE THE HAT MORE [THAN THE JACKET] 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. I DO HAVE VAGUE [MEMORIES OF] MAYBE WEARING IT TO SCHOOL ONCE OR TWICE. THAT WAS PROBABLY IT. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE AROUND HOME THAT I WOULD HAVE BEEN WEARING IT. [THE JACKET] WOULD SEE SOME WEAR BECAUSE HE HAD WORN IT HIMSELF DOWN IN THE STATES BEFORE HE GAVE IT TO ME.” “I DO REMEMBER WEARING I[THE JACKET] SKIING IN WHITEFISH. ABOUT THE SAME TIME WE STARTED SKIING AS A FAMILY IN 1982. WE WOULD BE TRAVELING DOWN THERE AND THEN YOU WOULD FIND SURPLUS STORES IN THE U.S. SO, FOR ME, THE EXCITEMENT TO GO TO WHITEFISH WASN’T TO GO SKIING, IT WAS ACTUALLY TO GO TO THE SURPLUS STORES.” “[AT THAT 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
- P20180029003
- Acquisition Date
- 2018-12
- Collection
- Museum
Images
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