| Show Modern techniques help Iraq vets personalize tradition of tattooing r f 2 v I r a i e w Image by The Washington Post Capt Michael honors Marines under his command who died in Iraq by having their names tattooed on his arm r V Christian Davenport The Washington Post He prayed that every Marine entrusted to his care would make it out of Iraq alive But Buta a roadside bomb claimed one of his men then two more fell in Now almost a year after Capt Michael returned from the war he said Theres not a day not an hour that goes by that I dont don't think of them So on a Sunday afternoon last month he walked into a Fredericksburg Va tattoo parlor parlor parlor par par- lor and had their names etched into his right shoulder in precise lettering fit for a plaque Above each is the symbol of a fallen warrior a pair of empty boots and an erect rifle adorned with a helmet In the background silhouettes silhouettes silhouettes sil sil- sil- sil of 20 other Marines represent the surviving members of platoon Behind them is the red orange-red glow of a sunset or a sunrise a year old from Fredericksburg Va with a Marines Marine's muscular build a snipers sniper's intense gaze and a scholars scholar's sense of history hasn't decided which This is my tribute to them he said as the theartist's theartist's theartist's artists artist's buzzing tattoo machine injected ink into his arm They are my heroes As a platoon commander these parents look at you and say Take care of my son It eats at you Tattoo Cont on Page 9 Tattoo Cont from front frontI I wish I could have brought them all home alive Commemorating combat experience with a tattoo is a warrior ritual that stretches back centuries a practice as as old as war itself said CW ge af a stori W Wi i I for for the National National Tattoo As Association ci tion and d owner of the Tattoo Archive a Berkeley Calif tattoo stu stu- stu- stu dio Like their counterparts in past pst wars Iraq veterans are choosing traditional patriotic patriot patriot- ic U.S. symbols flags eagles names of units units for for their tattoos But some images are strikingly per per- Aided by improved pigments and more sophisticated sophisticated sophisticated equipment they reveal in hi graphic detail the pain and permanence of war Mike Ergo 22 a former fonner Marine had specific instructions for his tattoo artist The enemy's hair had to be curly and dark the beard thick This was part of ofa a face etched into his memory memory memory mem mem- ory that of the first insurgent insurgent insurgent gent he killed during the battle of last November Ergo wanted it to come out just right In the tattoo inked onto the inside of his left forearm in April the enemy fighter is being slain by Saint Michael the archangel who stands sword drawn with his foot on the back of theman's theman's the theman's mans man's head The image is a reminder Ergo said that he survived one of the deadliest deadliest deadliest dead dead- liest bloodiest battles of the did did- war and the other guy nt The tattoo kind of just helps me to see that this guy got what was coming coining to him said Ergo who lives near near San Francisco His unit was going house to house when it came across a group of insurgents hiding in a small room underneath a stairwell As soon as the Marines opened the door the enemy fighters slammed it shut and started firing Bullets were everywhere everywhere everywhere every every- where Ergo recalled I 1 couldn't believe they missed us The Marines unloaded scores of rounds into the thedoor thedoor thedoor door Ergo said and just when they thought all the insurgents were dead one popped out and threw a agren gren gren e. e a them eu rl After iL if w went nt off Ergo charged I I Thinking Oh vOh Im I'm going to die doesn't help the situation he said But Buthe Buthe Buthe he was was definitely scared that Im I'm going to get shot in inthe inthe inthe the face He kicked open the door and found himself standing just a few feet from a man who raised his gun and yelled Akbar God is the greatest Ergo fired eight to 1 10 0 shots into his chest he said Its Its one of those things you cant can't really forget you know Ergo said I 1 see his face every day anyway It just flashes through my mind when I go to sleep Matthew Browns Brown's tattoo begins with a green bluish-green N just below his knee followed followed followed fol fol- fol- fol lowed by the letters V 0 V O-V-E- EMBE E- E M-B-E M descending to the R inked above his ankle Instead of numerals the 11 is spelled out by a pair of bullets NOVEMBER 11 II Its It's the day Brown was shot by a sniper in So much blood spilled from his sliced femoral vein he turned a ghostly white and anda a chaplain read him his last rites as he lay in a morphine daze God NGod be with you son he remembers the chaplain saying Ill never forget it said Brown 21 That's why he decided to have the date tattooed on the side of his right calf He and several other Marines were holed up in a former fonner convenience convenience convenience store when he was hit in the upper thigh Medics quickly put a tourniquet tourniquet tourniquet on his leg and evacuated ed him to a field hospital where the priest blessed him 0 |
