A 104-year-old woman residing in a care facility in Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom, was reunited after more than 20 years with the saekdong hanbok she wore in Korea as a child.

The National Museum of Scotland announced the reunion on its Facebook and Instagram accounts on the 21st of last month (local time). In a post titled ‘This traditional Korean garment was made for a young girl more than 100 years ago’, the museum said, “In her childhood, Mary Davidson Smith received as a gift a silk hanbok handmade by her (Korean) nanny, and she donated it in her eighties,” adding, “Staff arranged for Mary, who currently lives at Murrayside Care Home in Edinburgh, to be able to see in person the hanbok on display in the permanent gallery ‘Patterns of Life’.” The museum also uploaded photos of Smith wearing the hanbok as a child, her recent visit to the museum, and the saekdong jeogori. In the childhood photo, Smith is wearing a saekdong jeogori, a skirt, and a jobawi.

The UK Independent reported on the 25th of last month (local time) that Murrayside staff, having learned of Smith’s earnest wish to see the outfit again, coordinated with the museum to arrange a special visit. After reuniting with the hanbok she wore in childhood, Smith said, “I am really glad to see it again. It is much smaller than I remembered,” according to the outlet. She also said, “I feel like a celebrity.”

Susan Welsh, manager of Murrayside Care Home, said, “This visit was very emotional and evocative. It was a moment of reconnecting with precious childhood memories and seeing a piece of history vividly come back to life. Seeing Mary’s face light up with joy was truly heartwarming.”

Friederike Voigt, senior curator responsible for the museum’s Asia collection, said, “This outfit, consisting of a hat and bag, a saekdong jeogori and skirt, is a fascinating example of the traditional Korean dress known as hanbok.”

Smith was born in Korea in 1921 during the Japanese colonial period. She lived in several countries, including England, Canada, and the United States. She also experienced World War II firsthand. The BBC aired an interview with Smith about the war on January 21 last year. She witnessed the devastation of London and Bristol caused by German air raids. She narrowly escaped death when a neighboring house was bombed, killing six people. Smith later joined the women’s auxiliary of the Royal Navy, where she was responsible for recording and tracking the movements of ships departing into the Atlantic.

During her service, she was dispatched to Washington, D.C., in the United States, where she met her husband, Charles Wynard Davidson Smith, who was a British Army officer. The couple later moved to Edinburgh to raise their sons Neil and Mark.

Smith gave an interview to the UK care home portal Carehome in August last year on her 104th birthday. Regarding the secret to her longevity, she said, “I came to like the sea breeze during my Navy days. If there is a secret to living happily for a long time, it is plenty of sea air and smiling every day.”