Preserving the Memories of Our Veterans

Welcome back. On Veterans Day, we remember the men and women who served and the sacrifices they and their families have made. And sometimes the most meaningful reminders of that service are the things they left with us. So preserving those pieces helps keep their stories alive for the next generation. Joining us now is someone who has dedicated his life to doing just that, local framing expert and owner of Best Framing, Mehdi Bendana. Yes. Thanks for being with us Thank you for having me. You brought some amazing Amazing things. It's interesting because even as a veteran, when you leave the service, you have these uniforms. I had a sword. I didn't know what to do with them and I ended up just kind of getting rid of it all but here you are people who've preserved these pieces and they can keep it on for generations. Yeah so when I got into custom framing I learned that there's presentation and preservation and one of my favorites is preserving the memories, the perfect intersection of that yeah so in this situation we went out and got some memorabilia from a local store that sells vintage pieces from the military and we got three pieces that are perfect for displaying and showing how Look at this plane. So let's start with the cap. You said this is from World War Two. Yes. So it's an army cap. And what we did here that's pretty special is instead of it just hanging on a wall, it's actually a table topper. And what we did was we we set up a mirror underneath it. So when you're looking at this hat, I'm not sure if they could see it here. But there's a little bit there's a mirror on the inside. So you could see here that you can see the inside of the hat. So when you're going on certain angles like this, you'll see the inside of the hat without touching it. From where I'm standing right now, I can see the insignia and everything. Exactly. And I did one of these before there was a NYPD hat that had a Virgin Mary picture on the inside. So they really wanted to see the inside of it. Um, and then a gold frame to go. So people do stuff with the inside, obviously you, you, you put your identifier in there so people know it's your hat. It's not theirs, but you can see your loved one's inscription in it and this is a way for you. It's almost like a museum piece. Can you do it this way? It is. Yeah. And then over here you have, you have a sword and I want to help you out with this one because This is, there's a cool component to this. Yes. So in preservation of memorabilia, it's important how you attach them to the frame. So in this situation, I didn't want to use any adhesives or anything that's going to damage the frame. So in this situation, I use the magnet to attach it. So it's, you can You can actually... Carefully show it to your friends. Right. It doesn't have to stay inside Lucite or glass or anything. Exactly. You can take it out and actually... Yeah. And just attach this back up like this. And then that's it. You could set it up vertically or horizontally. Wow. And it's very well attached. And where is the sword from? This is called a 1902 sword. It's a Marine sword. Were you in the Marines? Navy. Navy. But as an officer, we had swords as well. Yes. Yeah, so it's called a 1902, but it's a military sword Yeah. that was used up to World War I, World War II. Wow. And then, okay, so you have, this I'm amazed by, because you're talking, this is a World War II map? Yes. And how perfectly preserved it is. Yeah, so when we're preserving something like this, there's multiple elements. So even whether you're going to do this on your own by buying your own frames, it's important to know the different things that are going to protect the artwork or, in this situation, the map. So we have UV glass that protects it from... So tell us about this piece right here, because this truly is like a museum piece. Yeah, so in this one, I was speaking to the gentleman that got us the piece. It's a cloth map that pilots would use. We've seen it before where they put it inside their jackets in case something happens. They want a cloth map so it doesn't get wet if they fall in the water. They wanted a cloth map so it doesn't make noise if they're somewhere where they can't make noise. And then I talked to the gentleman and brought in some images from that era so we can say Carrier Enterprise 6 here and some of the airplanes that were used in World War II. And what happens is these are the flow charts of what what you do after that one after somebody hits the water. And so where did this come from, a family? So I went to a military surplus store and there's a gentleman in there that was in the Navy in the 70s who's a big collector. And I bought these three pieces for our showroom so when customers come in, they get inspiration. We all have objects like this in our home, whether it's a grandparent or a father or a brother. And this is ways for us to honor them and display them properly and preserve them. This is like frozen in time. This is beautiful. What has been the reaction of some of these families? I imagine because there are so many heirlooms and things that they have that they love to do something with them and no one can think of. Everyone has the flag, right, inside the flag case. You can buy that on Amazon. This is just a very different way. Yeah, so again, with custom framing and with your local framer, when you're working with them, you work on ideas on how you want to display them and how you want to preserve them. So a lot of times seeing the families after they come pick it up, whether it's a full suit or it's grandpa's jacket or a badge or a map or anything like that, it's always this amazing reaction. That's probably one of the most rewarding things I do that I have in my business Reaction every time a customer comes in to pick up. Wow. Yeah. Well, Mehdi Bandana, thank you so much for showing us these pieces. It truly is the intersection of preservation and I mean, it's its own form of art there. You just can't put a price on that, on the memories. You really can't. Yeah, yeah. Appreciate you. So special. For more information on how to preserve those memories or to make an appointment with Mehdi, just go to framing.com or follow them on Instagram. Give them a follow at Best Framing. Thank you. Thank you.