Merle Delray Brown: May 26, 1932 - December 28, 2013

[RidgeDog]

First Off: If I have jumped my lane and am posting in the wrong forum please let me know and I will correct course immediately! Now to the point ...

Re: Merle Delray Brown: May 26, 1932 - December 28, 2013



Gentelmen,

This may seem a strange request but I am hoping you can help. As noted above my Dad passed away recently and I am hoping to honor him as best I can. It began with my hauling his ass out of the hospital and taking him home and caring for him in his final weeks while the overlooked the horses and ranch he loved. I continue with his Memorial on his birthday which, as luck would have it, is Memorial Day 2014.

My dad was extremely proud of his time in the Marines during the Korean War (1951-1954) even though he spoke very rarely of the details other than some stories from Camp Pendleton. To honor him and his service I want to duplicate the tat he got while serving (pictured below) and note his name, DOB, DOD and time in service. The problem is I can't remember exactly what the tat was and so far we have been unable to find earlier pictures clearly showing the tattoo. (The bunkhouse burned down in 1978 and took most of those memories with it).

From what I think I remember it was and eagle (my sis thinks a serpent) descending down right to left with wings up and talons extended forward with and arrow or spear in them. I have NO idea what the small item is above the body. Of course this is just conjecture pulled from old memories of a child 50 years ago so don't lock into that mental picture too strongly. It almost looks like a variation on the 31st MEU's logo but they weren't activated until '67 so that can't be it. I am currently at a loss.

I have his DD 214 that indicates he is in 3rd AMTRACS (I have it in a pdf if that would help)

I also have a picture of a Birthday cake for the 3^rd Tank Bn to celebrate the Marine Corps Birthday. However, as far as I know the 3rd Tank Bn was at Camp Pendleton at the time but did not serve in Korea. I would assume from this that he may have been with the 1st Tank Bn in Korea

What few in country stories he shared involved how he learned to HATE snakes and LOVE real whole cow's milk with ice shards in it!! The Pendleton stories were of raising hell and laughing about it. It seemed that was the enjoyable time of his service he was comfortable talking about.

As for the tat itself, it would not surprise me AT ALL if it is determined he and his buddies made up their own tat. It would have been too damned easy to just do an EGA and call it good! (LOL) I have scoured the interweb, drained all my contacts, even had commo with the Historian at the Marine Corps Museum (thanks to Mooney CIV Patrick J) to no avail.



What I am asking for is ANY guidance you may be able to lend in determining what the original art may have been for a Marine serving in Korea in the early fifties. And, of course, I would like to figure this out prior to his Memorial on 26 May.

Thank you in advance for any help you may be able to provide.

Sincerely,

Bill Brown

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[RidgeDog]

Well the tat picture is too large and I missed the edit window to get it resized.

Sorry,

Ridgedog

[SGT7477]

RIP Marine, Semper Fidelis.

[Rocky C]

Sorry to hear of your loss. RIP Marine.

No idea on the Tattoo. You can see the whole thing. There is a slide bar at the bottom of your post.

Also, you should have registered as Marine Family instead of Marine Friend.

Best of luck to you.

[irpat54]

RIP Marine, on to the streets of Gold..

sorry wish I could help, It almost looks like the symbol of my old Special Opps unit the Night Dragons,, but we were way after that.. in the 70's..

[RidgeDog]

Gentlemen,

I have a sidebar question that has been bothering me. "Would duplicating my Dad's tat + his name, DOB, DOD be inappropriate?"

I have asked 10-12 former and current Marines and to the man they say I'm GTG. My concern is it would appear as a poser or, at the very least ,misrepresentation. My intent is to honor the ol' man and I don't want that diminished by being inappropriate (regardless of the honorable intent).

Standing by,

RD

[irpat54]

I think that what you want to do would be a great honor and IMO you have no worries,,, I agree GTG