This is my dad’s military jacket from his days as a sergeant in the Air Force in the early 1950’s. He was stationed in Landsberg, Germany. My mother kept this jacket all the years they were married, and when my mom and dad divorced, he didn’t ask for the jacket back, and she kept it in pristine condition in her closet. It stayed in her closet for over fifty years. When she died, I inherited the jacket. I kept it in my house for four years, but it started to make me anxious. I was worried about the lack of climate-controlled conditions, and I wasn’t sure of the proper way to preserve a fifty- plus year old wool Air Force jacket, so in early 2009, I donated it to the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. I was sad to let the jacket go, and I gave it a little hug before I sent it off. Some things that are passed down to you have another destination, and you have to be willing to let them proceed to their proper home.


