All About Pocket Knives

O.K., we've seen pics of you and your families. Pics of your knives, trucks, cycles, pets, homes etc... Time for somethin' different! How 'bout showin' your Tattoos?
Could be a memorial, military brand or just skin art! This could be fun! Tell a little history behind your body art and the reason or motivation behind gettin' it!!
I'll start.

Left forearm: "Death or Glory"-Military, 1980 in Gulfport Mississippi
Right forearm:"Old Naval Ship"-Military,1980 in Gulfport Mississippi ... I got both at the same time and was stone sober! When I received the 1st one I felt my arms were not symmetrical so it led me to sit through the second. The reason I got them,(aside from being in the military) was when I was 5 yrs. old I remember my Grandpappy always cuttin' the peelings off my apples. When he did that he use to make the "Hula Girl" tattoo dance on his forearms just to get me laughing!! I was always fascinated by all his "war" tatoos. I remember tellin' him often that I was gettin' some like that when I grew up. Grandpappy died the next year and I guess when I grew up, I kept my promise. I have brought laughter and fun to my own kids when I made my eagles "fly"...just like grandpappy and that Hula Girl! -Rocky

When I turned 50, I did three things:
I quit smoking. (for my first grandchild)
I got my ear pierced
I got a tattoo

17 years later, and I haven't touched a cigarette but sometimes I still wanna.
I stopped wearing an earring because I figured out I'm not one of those old guys who looks cool wearing an earring.

The tattoo - I used to say I was going to get a pair of lips tattooed on the cheek of my ass and when I died they could bury me upside down so the world could kiss my ass. When I turned 50 I got a pair of lips tattooed on the cheek of my ass.

NO! I'm not showing the tattoo!!

Speechless Jerry...simply speechless!

I have no tattoos, but I'll tell you a story about my Dad's.

Dad enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1943, circumnavigated the earth two times and after war's end spent a few months still aboard ship as they brought the troops home from Europe.

When he came home in 1946, he had two tattoos, one on each upper arm.

On his right arm was a naked Hawaiian woman standing waist deep in water with her hands behind her head, perky breasts and navel visible. Below her in quotations was the name "Suzy".

On his left arm were two pink hearts with a connecting, intertwining ribbon. On the ribbon were the names "Fred" and "Ellen".

My Dad's name, luckily, was Fred.

However, my mother's name was Vera Ophelia. My two older sister's names were Jackie and Brenda.

I lived with my Dad and those two tattoos for several years before it dawned on me, dense as I must have been, that they didn't make familial sense.

So, when I was about twelve, I asked my Mom about them and wanted to know who "Suzy" and "Ellen" were.

Her response was quite profound.

"Son, I don't know who "Suzy" and "Ellen" were. I don't care. War is Hell. Your father came home safe and sound. That's all that matters. Don't you fret about those tattoos."

My Mom and Dad were still together when he died at age sixty-two in 1978.

I did not get any tattoos when I served.

Charlie Noyes

I've got a story about my Dads tattoo. He was in the marines in the tail end of WW11. He got a tattoo of a naked lady on his chest in china. He boxed in the golden gloves, and they made him cover his tattoo up with adhesive tape during boxing matches. Well, he got tired of the tape pulling chest hair so he got annother tattoo over the naked lady to cover it up. It was a huge bunch of roses. Ever since then, he had the nickname of Rosey.

Thanks for sharin Charlie and K-N. Cool stories.

Never got a tat, cuz I figured when I grew up I wouldn't want it anymore. So far, I think that's the only wise decision I made from my younger days.....

TripleF,

I'm kindof on the same page there, though with several random observations.

When I was very young, my grandfather told me that if I ever went bald I should get a spider tattooed on my head to keep the flies off. Fortunately, at 59 I still have a full head of hair, albeit somewhat greying. I don't figure that I will ever go bald. (I do shave my head during the warm months, though.)

Additionally, back in the biker days when I was a Harley mechanic I was encouraged to get a tat. As I was an independent who went to every biker party and meet, I was disinclined to form any affiliation, particularly since as a mechanic I had to deal with every group.

However, I did have a fleeting thought about getting one. I considered, momentarily, getting an eyeball tattooed on a certain bodily appendage such that it could see where it was going. As I said, that was a momentary idea, as I immediately realized the actuality of doing so would be quite uncomfortable.

Thus, I remain ink free and the only piercings I have gotten were accidental (work related or simple stupidity).

HEH

Regards,
OG

A few years ago, I was all heated up to get a second tattoo. I had decided I wanted the Marine Corps emblem (Eagle, Globe & Anchor) tattooed on the palm of my left hand. Sort of inspired by the "Pay Up Sucker" Jesse James of West Coast Choppers has on his hand. I stopped at a local parlor to inquire about it and was told, "Naah. You don't want to do that. The skin on the palm of your hand is constantly shedding and it wouldn't take it long to disappear."

Another genius idea down the toilet.


Rocky - I didn't expect you'd get much traffic on this one. These folks don't strike me as the tattoo type. I guess I'm not either, really, since mine doesn't show. I have been talking to one of the guys I went through boot camp with about getting a Marine Corps themed tattoo. He brought it up and I've thought about it. Probably a waste of money at my age.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picture ... me=2208032

Wow Mitch, That's a real eye opener! To much for this ol' boy

Jerry, I can say that over the years I considered getting "other" Tats but never saw anything I really wanted or wanted to spend the money on. What I have is what I've got. When I pastored in the church folks asked me if it got in the way of my ministry. My response was ,"It's not what's on the outside of the person that God is concerned about, but more so the issues of one's heart." It often allowed me in places where others could not go with a testimony, and for the young folks it breached alot of barriers! I have never had regrets for my tattoos. It's a reminder of my Grandpappy and my military service.-Rocky

jerryd6818 wrote:NO! I'm not showing the tattoo!!

THANK YOU JERRY!!!!

I will have to get a picture of my tattoo and tell the story behind it, but not before I get the pic.


Jerry,
I have considered getting a Marine Corps tat over the years, from time to time.
Either the Eagle Globe & Anchor or a bulldog with a Smokey on his head.

Did you ever notice that half of the bulldogs (mascots) you saw in the Corps were named Chesty?

orvet wrote:Did you ever notice that half of the bulldogs (mascots) you saw in the Corps were named Chesty?

Fitting, don't you think? Notice the resemblance?

Jerry,. I'm so glad you finally decided to post a picture of yourself! The one on the bottom looks a bit younger than that military shot of you on the top! Now all you got to do is dare to bare that other mug and show us your TAT!!! -Rocky

The best part of that story is, my ex-sister-in-law, who is still one of a small group I consider my best friends, went with me to get that tattoo. Since the 'artist' didn't have any flash of lips, she smeared the red lipstick on thick and pressed her lips to a piece of paper for him to use as a guide. I seldom miss a golden opportunity to remind her that her lips are permanently on the cheek of my ass.

My lady friend never misses an opportunity to tell me that I ruined my ass with those hairy lips tattooed on it. I tell her just to pretend it's an over grown mustache.

Leave it to the class clown!

ROCKY1122 wrote:Leave it to the class clown!

Don't encourage him. He's hard enough to live with as it is.

C'mon now! Say it ain't so... Say it ain't so!

jerryd6818 wrote:My lady friend never misses an opportunity to tell me that I ruined my ass with those hairy lips tattooed on it. I tell her just to pretend it's an over grown mustache.

I have this horrible visual forever etched in my brain!

I don't have any tats, and no holes in my body that I wasn't born with.

As a boy, I remember my dad having scars on his chest. I asked him what it was, and he said it was a brand he received as initiation into the "T" club at West Texas State Univ. (now West Texas A&M) in the 1950s in Canyon, Texas.

He played football for WT, and when you lettered you were initiated into the "T" club by the other football players holding you down on a table. They pulled off your shirt, doused you with a bucket of water (for better conductivity). They had a board with two nails driven halfway through with the points of the nails bent close together. They attached the heads of the nails to an old telephone crank. The guys took turns cranking, while another burned a large T on your chest. The started at the nipple and went down a couple of inches...then from nipple to nipple across the chest.....then down the center of your chest to the naval.....then across the naval....then two short marks upwards...to make a large "New Times Roman" font "T" on your chest.

They won the 1956 Tangerine Bowl, and my dad was inducted into the West Texas Hall of Champions in 2010 (he also played for the Steelers and the Bills). I have been to several Football reunions in Canyon with him, and the guys always talk about getting their "T".

I played college ball, too, in the early 80s....but thankfully for me they had outlawed that kind of stuff by then.

That is an amazing story! Takes some serious dedication to go through something like that! But as they say...No Guts, No Glory!
A really great story, Thanks for sharin' it!-Rocky

Any Marine NCOs here who have scars from when they go their stripes "pinned on?"