My grandfather was born in Hungry. He came to the United States in 1965 to escape the Hungarian Revolution. All of the violent protests and dangerous neighborhoods caused him to leave and move to the US. When he arrived, the jobs available were not great, so he decided to join the army. He was posted to Alaska. The jacket is army green with many pockets.  It is very worn in and with some stains on it because it has been used so much. The ranks on the sleeve are yellow with dark green around them and the ski patch has a skiing man and the words “US ARMY 100 miles ALASKA”. The jacket is not very thick, so staying in the cold with it would be brutal, there is very little insulation. One of the reasons this jacket inspires me so much is because of the special patch on it. My grandpa skied 100 miles across Alaska in his army jacket. After doing this he got a special patch for skiing the 100 miles. He rose in the ranks and became an army pilot.  He was almost drafted to fight in the Vietnam War but luckily did not see combat. After he retired from the Air Force he gave the jacket to his son, my dad. My dad told me he wore it almost every day to school and pretty much whenever he went out of the house. He told me about it and how he wore it all the time and I got really interested. Ironically the next time I went to visit my grandpa he said I was old enough and was finally worthy of taking the jacket. It has been worn by 3 generations of my family.   

– LJJ

Relationship:  Grandchild of im/migrant Grandchild of im/migrant