(CNN) -- Michael Boatwright got off the flight from Los Angeles to Sweden and tightly embraced an unfamiliar woman as if they were old friends. They were. The two had dated briefly in the 1980s. But Boatwright doesn't remember any of that. The 61-year-old Florida-born U.S. Navy vet woke up in a California hospital earlier this year speaking only Swedish. He had lived in Sweden off and on for about 20 years. Now, here he was at Goteborg Landvetter Airport, where that old friend, Ewa Espling, plans to help him get himself together in her country. "I just want to be able to live a normal life and hopefully get my memory back," Boatwright said Tuesday.
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Michael Boatwright has dissociative amnesia
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He doesn't speak English anymore and now speaks only Swedish
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His ex-girlfriend is helping him get his life together in Sweden
He doesn't recall any experiences that he and @placeholder shared in the 1980s, but some emotional remnants of the past remain.