Father's Day Memory Box

About a month ago we went to an auction at my husband's childhood home (which you can read about here and here) and one of the things we got was an Royal Canadian Air Force jacket that had belonged to my husband's adopted father.  He had been a Tail Gunner in a Halifax Bomber during World War 11 and had taken part in many air raids, including D-Day. 

We don't have any photos of him in uniform so the photo below is just taken from the internet, but you can see the jacket is the same as the one above.

A Halifax Bomber Crew.  The row of bombs on the airplane indicate the number of bombing raids it has undergone (BBC)

Unfortunately the jacket was too moth-eaten to keep so after some consideration we decided that making a memory box with items from the jacket was the best way to deal with it.  

I took the idea and made it a reality by assembling the memory box for Father's Day. I cut some material from the back of the jacket and taped it around a piece of foam-core board to line the bottom of the memory box.  The material was so faded that I used the reverse side to get a truer representation of the colour.  Then I arranged the buttons, one of the badges from the shoulder, the belt buckle, and a piece of the trim from the sleeve and attached them to the material at the back.

It's a nice way to save the memories without having to keep the entire jacket which was long past its prime.  

Men are sooo difficult to find gifts for aren't they?  I have to confess that I'm pretty proud of myself for thinking of the memory box idea.  Did you all think of something wonderful to do to celebrate Father's Day?  

Linked to Sunday Best Party at A Pretty Life,
Sunday Showcase Party at By Stephanie Lynn,
From Dream to Reality at The DIY Dreamer