I wonder if, after all these years, he still had his uniform.

This question crossed my mind the other day as Great Britain said good-bye to its last surviving veteran of World War I. Then, I wondered how many American World War I veterans had kept their uniforms and how many of those were still preserved.

There are, thank goodness, still many veterans of World War II still among us. From time to time you may see one of them in his old uniform, dressed up for some special occasion. But not often. So we can wonder about them, too. How many have kept their wartime clothing for the 64 years since that war ended—and what will happen when these soldiers are, like their World War I brothers, all gone?

My father’s World War II naval officers uniform comes to mind. It hung proudly in the closet at home for years until I commandeered the trousers as my high school formal pants. The remainder was probably used for some other good purpose, like costumes in a college dramatic production.

My army uniform, undistinguished as it was and still is, hangs in a closet at home, surviving intact longer the my father’s did, still waiting, just in case. (My son honored it and me a few years ago when he removed a patch from it and sewed it on his own uniform, thereby connecting us to the same unit and to each other in a special way.) The close-by presence of that uniform has been important to me, but like my father’s, it too will someday certainly just drift away.

The old World War I and II uniforms are far simpler than those we see our solders wearing in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead, they are closer in appearance to the uniforms worn by Civil War soldiers. In fact, the growing up times of the veterans of the World Wars were closer to 1865 than they were to today’s world. When the World War II veterans were growing up in 1929, the surviving Civil War veterans were also 64 years away from their last battle.

Time moves along, closing connective links as it goes. Most military clothing from all wars gets used up eventually—for work or hunting garb, children’s play, or feasts for closet moths—just fading away before the old soldiers die.

But not always.

For instance, Robert Patton’s World War II uniform no longer hangs in the attic of his home in Chapel Hill where it was probably destined someday soon to just “fade away.”

Instead it is on permanent display in the history museum of Scharding, a small Austrian town that sits on the Inn River near the German border.

In May, 1945, in the very last days of the war, Robert Patton was serving in the 65th Infantry Division, which was part of General George Patton’s (no kin) Third Army. Robert Patton’s unit captured Scharding. In recent years, Patton and others from the 65th Division revisited the town and developed warm relations with people there. In 2006, veterans from Scharding awarded decorations to three 65th veterans, including Patton.

When Patton learned that the museum in Scharding was seeking an American Army uniform, he quickly made a decision.

When he returned to Austria a few months ago, he brought his old uniform, the same one he was wearing in May 1945 on his first “visit” to Scharding. This time the mayor, the museum director, and a uniformed honor guard assembled to receive his gift.

Now, whenever Patton’s family or friends want to see his World War II uniform, they will not have to go to the attic.

It will not fade away. It will always be…

In Scharding.

NOTE: Robert Patton’s discussion of his experiences in World War II will be available on line at www.1360wchl.com/listen.html?showname=dgpodcast



D.G. Martin is the host of UNC-TV’s North Carolina Bookwatch, which airs Sundays at 5 p.m. Check his blog and view prior programs at www.unctv.org/ncbookwatch/