Number two of a five part series.

One of my most treasured possessions is my father’s U.S. Navy issue pea coat, which was given to me while I was in college. My family’s military service has historically been in the Navy. My paternal grandfather served on the destroyer USS Murphy during the Second World War. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, my father was a submariner on the USS Robert E. Lee. The boat’s crew would divide their time between the Naval Submarine Base in New London, Connecticut and Holy Loch, Scotland. The heavy wool coat must have been great to have during those bitter cold winters. Over the past decade I have continued to use it to fight off the cold New York City winters.

The inside label with my father’s name written in ink.

One of the many great features in the new issue of Free & Easy magazine is on the pea coat. Scans below.

The imagery of Free & Easy is done in a very interesting way. I love how they show the tags from the garments (that is why I did the same with my pea coat). I also enjoy how they approach the subject as a collector. Each garment is seemingly a very special historical item from some giant Free & Easy warehouse in Tokyo.

More than a magazine, Free & Easy is an instruction manual or a how-to guide to dress like an American. The little illustration on the page below of “How to Wear P-Coat” is a classic example that makes the magazine serious and humorus at the same time.