One family’s special baptism tradition just added another chapter in the history books this weekend.

Nellie Granath, the great-grandchild of World War II pilot Robert (RJ) Pratt, was baptized at Pax Christi Catholic Community Church in Eden Prairie on Sunday and wore a gown woven from the parachute that saved his life.

According to family, Pratt was born in Burlington, Iowa in 1922 and attended St. Benedict’s College in Atchison, Kansas. After the 1941 attack at Pearl Harbor, Pratt entered the U.S. Army Air Corps and was trained as a bombardier-navigator on a B-17.

During one of his numerous missions flying over Europe, his plane was hit by ground fire and his crew was forced to bail out over Yugoslavia. Pratt and his crew landed on snowy grounds in the middle of winter and he used his parachute to survive overnight.

The crew was eventually found by local partisans loyal to Marshall Tito, the anti-Nazi leader of Yugoslavia, and smuggled back to Italy, family says.

After returning, Pratt flew more missions and eventually returned to Iowa, keeping one special memento from his time in combat — his silk parachute.

In 1946, Pratt and his wife Patricia had a child who wore a baptismal gown made by Pratt’s mother using the silk from the parachute for the fabric.

Over the generations, 33 children, including Nellie, have worn the gown in what’s become a family tradition.