Black and grey tattoo of the USMC eagle, globe and anchor emblem inside a circle of lettering, on the upper arm and shoulder.

USMC eagle, globe and anchor on an upper arm

Upper arm · Black and grey · Photo

A black and grey tattoo of the United States Marine Corps eagle, globe and anchor emblem sits at the centre of a circular band of lettering that reads USMC-Those who have died for our freedom will never be forgotten. The eagle, globe and anchor use bold outlines with grey shading and fine striped detail on the globe. The circle is shown from a close angle across the upper arm and shoulder against a plain pale skin background.

Upper arm Shoulder Eagle Globe Anchor Lettering

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Take it to an artist as a reference. A good artist will make it yours rather than copy someone else's tattoo.

A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

You kneel on the wet gravel with a stiff brush and a tin of brass polish, because Mrs Harker wants the ring of stone around the copper beech scrubbed before Armistice week. The lettering has gone green in the hollows, and the old bronze emblem at its centre, an eagle with a globe and anchor, has dulled to the colour of weak tea. A blackbird works the leaf litter under the yew and ignores you completely.

Keep reading

The tree was planted in 1946 for Tom Harker, who went out from this village with a letter from the Marines and a cap that never fit him properly. His mother ordered the ring cut from Cornish granite and asked the mason to put the words round the edge in capitals, so that anyone walking the path would have to turn slowly to read them. You know this because the mason's grandson still comes into the shop on Thursdays and tells the story the same way each time, as if it were a sermon.

At the bottom of the ring, where the anchor's shank meets the stone, the brush catches on something soft. It is a folded square of oilcloth, tied with garden twine, and inside is a single brass button stamped with the same globe you have been polishing for three hours. You turn it over twice. Then you tuck it back where you found it, under the moss, and work the brush along the last letters until the words come up clean and sharp enough to read from the gate.