Yesterday I volunteered to help my grandparents pack up some of their belongings to move into a new apartment. They moved once a few years ago, so there was minimal sorting involved, mostly just folding and putting things into boxes. As I helped my grandmother clean out her walk-in closet, however, all sorts of treasures began emerging. My father's first piggy bank, my grandmother's certificate of good attendance from 1930 (when she was 14), a colorful Oscar de la Renta scarf, and so on. But one thing I found struck me as quite puzzling.
This hand sewn nylon blouse has a red dragon embroidered on the right breast, which to me seemed to clash with the flower embroidery on the collar and sleeves.
I asked my grandfather about it, who explained that he got it during World War II when he served in the Philippines. He told me that the blouse is constructed from parachute nylon. I love the seams sewn down the back of the blouse.
We also found this cuff, which is made from an extremely lightweight metal with a mountain and some characters etched onto it. We think that this is made out of scrap metal from airplanes.
On one side, it says KINEN, which according to Google means commemoration, memory, or prayer. On the other side (I could not get a good photo), it has the date: 1946.
I have been looking without much success for more information on souvenirs from the Philippines. If anyone has any more information, I would love to learn more about these!
