I have been working on my father inlaw’s military memorabilia cabinet for a while. Well I am almost done. I made a memorial flag case with his name and USMC and his Sargent stripes on the sides.
The cabinet is 38" square and here is most of the contents inside. The swords are a Marine Corp Association ceremonial sword and the other is a WWII Japanese NCO sword. The Japanese sword was removed from a North Korean my father inlaw dispatched.
On each side of the cabinet I used my Shapeoko to carve MARINES and put a Marine Corp Emblem above it.
I originally wanted to put red velvet on the inside. I did some experiments with different adhesives but most of them bled through the velvet. So I bought some red leather texture material at Hobby Lobby. It is adhered to the 1/2" baltic birch backer with 3M #90 adhesive.
All the pieces of the cabinet are black walnut I got over at Stephen F Austin University from their wood crib. My father inlaw was in the end of WWII in the occupation of Okinawa and came home went to school and became a school teacher. When the Korean War broke out he was called up and was in one of the first and worst battles of the Korean War the Chosin Reservoir. The Marines were landed in winter without winter gear and were surrounded in a dry Reservoir by Chinese and North Korean Soldiers. It was fierce battle where he was awarded the Purple Heart.
The cabinet is done I just propped the door up because the cabinet is quite heavy and I have to transport it and install it. I will install the door when I get it up on the wall.
I used plexiglass in the door because I was afraid someone might break the glass and get hurt. I still need to install some magnets to keep the door closed.
Here is the complete contents without the door on.
I have a french cleat for the back to hang it on the wall. I will find the studs and screw the wall part on and place the cabinet on the french cleat.
This has been quite a project. After having it setting on my tablesaw outfeed table I was quite emotional about my father inlaw and what he did in his life. He was a Marine, a school teacher, Assistant Principal and later Principal. He was a very quite man and never talked about his days of combat. Many men that come back from war do not want to talk about what they did there. That can lead to many problems but it was a generational issue. I hope the veterans of our more recent wars can talk about the things they went through to help them deal with it. War is hell is an understatement and makes people do things that they would never do in our daily lives. A salute to Jess Harper and all our veterans that served and still serve to protect us today.
