Honoring Your Veteran Family Members and Ancestors ~ For Memorial Day and All Year Long

Here is Vincent's grandfather, José García Rivero (1908 - 1994).  His father was a military man- a carabinero in Spain.  José was a military cadet and served first as a carabinero, then in the Spanish Civil War (1936 - 1939) and was a captain in the Guardia Civil under Franco's government in Spain.  His brother Joaquin was a Guardia Civil, too.

1950s in Madrid, Spain

1971 in Madrid, Spain

After José passed away, Vincent inherited his sword, spurs, uniform and hats.  We have tried several ways to display some of these items.  Finally we decided to have the uniform, medals and the dress hat preserved and professionally framed.  Here are some photos of how we discussed laying out the uniform with the specialist at the framing store.

And here is the final result.  We decided to do a frame for the uniform, and then a deep shadow box for the dress tri-cornered hat, with a photo from the 1950s.  It was expensive since it used all acid free materials, UV Plexiglas, and a lot of labor since the uniform and medals were stitched to the backing (no metal pins or plastic parts).  This framing display will preserve the uniform, and also proudly display it in a basement family room with no windows.

I think José would have enjoyed this!

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