In Honor of Those Who Served
Every week I am trying to show off the fantastic stories that build and shape what our tattoos are, why we make tattoos, and how those tattoos shape us. I asked you to send your stories on over so I could select the best of the bunch. Today we havet he story of Sgt. Roy Cunningham and his tattoo in honor of those he served with. It was sent courtesy his wife, Erica.
My husband, Sgt. Roy Cunningham, was the original gunner on his Bradley with Chris Moore, Paul Medlin, Travis Haslip, and Alex Varela. A few weeks before May 19th, Roy was asked if he would go to HQ and fill a spot there. He didn’t want to, but it was either him or another soldier. The other guy, Ramirez, begged with Roy to let him stay in the field. Nothing was really happening and we had a baby on the way. I was having complications, so Roy thought it would be okay if he went to headquarters, that way he could communicate with me more.
A good friend of Roy’s, David Behrle, took his spot that day. He was a 20 year old Spc. from Tipton, IA. It was a normal patrol when “it” happened. The Bradley that they were riding in was hit with an IED so powerful that it flipped the Bradley over completely.
Not only was that the deadliest day of 2007 , but that is the day our lives changed forever. My brother, Sgt. Aaron Kestner was in a neighboring base just south of Camp Liberty. His bed friend came running into the room and said “Hey Kestner, isn’t your sister’s fiance on Liberty in Red 3?” I believe Red 3 was the Bradley’s name. Mike said “Dude, you need to call her before we go on Blackout: Roy’s gone. There’s nothing left of that Bradley. They got hit hard.”
So Aaron, against ALL military policy, called me and said “Sis… you might want to sit down. Shit hit really close to home today and I wanted to be the one to tell you. I don’t know if Roy’s alive or not. I’ll try to get to you as soon as I can.”
At this point, I was 32 weeks pregnant and I went into labor. I drove myself to the hospital. to this day I don’t remember getting there. I didn’t hear from Aaron for about eight days. When I did hear from him, he told me that Roy was alive. The next day, Roy called me to tell him David had taken his place that day.
My husband has carried a tremendous amount of guilt over the past five years. It should have been him that day. when he came home March 2008, he started drinking heavily and at one point in time actually pushed me into a wall. I was three months pregnant with our daughter. The “D” word was thrown around a few times because of the alcohol.
He eventually came to terms with the fact that he doesn’t function right. He suffers from PTSD and we have made great progress in the past year. Kevin, his amazing tattoo artist, drew this piece after hearing about what had happened. After this tattoo was done Roy has come to the realization that everything happens for a reason. He wasn’t supposed to be there that day. Logan and Madison have a father because Roy came home. May 19th is a very difficult day for everyone in our family. Knowing what should have been hurts my heart and I feel so much sadness for the families that don’t get to hug their loved ones every day.
This day is a chapter in a book called “Tell Me How This Ends”. It’s Chapter 9: Knights of America.
RIP David Behrle, Chris Moore, Travis Haslip, Alex Varela, Paul Medlin, and Joe Gilmore. KIA May 19, 2007.
I sent picture of my and husband tattoo on our wedding day,seems so trivial now after reading this :’( so sad seeing what peoples tattoos really mean
my thoughts and sympathy goes out to those who has lost their lives :/ x
Wow… That is a beautiful memorial tattoo!! I’m sorry he lost so many friends that day!! My husband too is military and even though we haven’t been through anything like that, I do know people that have!! Everything does happen for a reason even if we never know why… that is a lesson I had to learn. I hope he is doing much better now!!
wonderful tribute…
My tattoo is for my family. It’s a cross on my right shoulder blade with the names of my siblings on it. Constance (who is at the base of the cross) is my sister who was killed. Then there are my brother, Matthew, and my sister, Erica. Then it simply says Mom and Dad.
My memorial Tattoo is for my son Sr Airman James A Hansen he was killed in Balad, Iraq on Sept 15 2010. It’s his dog tagsand chain in the shape of a heart and angel wings
my story is simple, im 31 and in january when i was 30 i was diagnosed with cancer,i spent the last year going threw surgery’s and chemo,i have 3 small children 2 girls and a boy, during 1 of the darkest and hardest times in my life going threw the cancer stuff 1 night my oldest daughter (taylor-8yrs old)was laying with my cause i was really sick and she looked at me and said to me ” daddy just so u know if anything would happen to you i want you to know that i will take care of my brother and sister ” well that night i prayed and begged god to help me threw this and that i would do my best to change my life around,and i’m starting over from scratch but alive,and with jesus’s portrait right onm my throat,most of my 60 tattoo’s are for family religion and my cancer survival, thank you for letting me tell my story
OK…well. the link doesn’t seem to be working. . I’d love to send my story….. Of the trials and tribulations I’ve gone through..and how it took me 15 yrs to find the right artist to portray that, as a permanent marking on ME . Not an easy decision to make…but I found the Most amazing artist Ever.. and he couldn’t have done any better. ( or anyone else )
BTW…My innk..represents .
My telling my boys that . * I love them..the whole world and universe*
My tattoo is a memorial for my Son, born Jan 20th 2011, passed from Sids March 17th 2011
my tattoo is around my left ankle like a bracelet but with words…..”can you show me how to get to Sesame Street?” it is in memory of a disabled child I took care of for over 8 years and will never forget her. she was 15 when she died. her mother had the same thing put on her grave marker. she loved Elmo and Sesame Street more than anything.
This is so sad. I was in the Marine corps and went to war. I missed the major part of the war though. I saddens me that I did. It not as if I love war or anything but my brothers die and I would rather have been there.
Kudos to you Ericka.
My tatoo is of 3 hearts with the initails of my three kids, The top and bottom are of my sons and they are both in the Marines. The center heart holds the initals of my daughter who passed away from spinal menigitis when she was 10 mos. 11 days,Two red hearts and the one in the middle is shaded to look like a head stone and very proud to wear this love mom
on my left arm i have a cross with in memory of kevin.on my right arm i have in memory of fuzz my other brother.it has been 31 yrs since my brother kevin died.by getting my head out my ass in life i come to know it takes a lot of people to run heaven.with my heart i pray & they touch me with a body chill,i know there listening.when i turn real fast i see there smiling faces,they are still with me in soul, not body.if you speak to them in sound mind & body,truely belive they will touch you also.you will get a body chill.god bless you all who have lost a loved 1 or 2 we will all be together,again in the end. peace. DKROCKS
Love the stories……still working on mine.
I have one arm so far tatted in honor of the FireFighters who lost thier lives on 911. 343,the city with the twin towers and a firefigther holding the American flag, black roses, and the fire company in my nieghborhood L 142 E 285,, going this weekend for some more work.I am 63 yrs young and a women . and i love my ink.
I have quite a few tats, but reading these stories above, I have cried at them all. I salute everyone of you. Respect xx
God Bless all of you who have fought so bravely for our Country. I hope ALL of our Troops come home and get the hell out of this f***** up War, afterall, aren’t we supposed to make Love and not War??? Well, it’s time for a change!!! I’ve heard that before, but he’s so full of s*** he’s brown all over…..ha ha ha lmfaorof
i had my face tattoos after loseing my baby it was my way of copeing through a difficult time and the worst time of my life to it was my tattoos that comforted me and saved me from going over the edge literally so i owe my life to my tats defo
After reading the comments the one that saddened me the most was probably the 9/11 one the is the people who are posting after losing loved ones in this f***ing war us british have lost a few brave men also
they may be some sort of make up you could use but as for the creams im not sure a freind of mine has a tattoo of a butterfly on her hip and she hates it now. shes tried most creams going but none have made much difference.and scott d is right dont sacrifice your ink for a job.it sounds to me like you dont really want to get rid of them.its your body dont let other peoples beliefs pressure you into doing something you dont really want to do, im sure a great job oppourtunity will come up and the employer will understand about your tattoos.
That’s what I used to think. Sure, those HUGE meaningless taotots are a waste, but if something is really important to you, and if your willing to spend your money and life with it, then who cares the size?Hell, you only live once.
no tattoos are etinrely meaningless, each one has some significance to the person even if they cant find the socially acceptable way of explaining why they got them
people are gonna tell you that the foot hurts SO bad it’s the most painful spot blah blah blah. but i got my foot done on tdurshay, it was a piece of cake. honestly, not bad at all. now it was my first tattoo so i have nothing to compare it to, but really i was barely in pain. it was mostly just annoying. it started to hurt towards the end but i think that’s cuz i was just getting sick of it.anyways i don’t know about the recovery time since i just got mine. but i felt like commenting because so many people on here say that the pain for foot tattooes is like unbearable, it had me really scared but it was totally not that bad. so i just felt like telling you that it’s definitely nothing that can’t be tolerated.
It’s called laser toatto removal and it is guaranteed for a hefty price if you find a good laserderm clinic.It can be completely removed. Like getting a good toatto, you need to find a good clinic. It’s what you do after the lasering that counts during the healing process.
frost685dude! hawaiiand did tntaooitg like this a long time ago, they stoped and a few years ago like my round the 70s 80s or 90s nt to sure they started back. this is the same story with alot of different polynesian cultures, some have just stoped completey, but samoans HAVE NEVER STOPED!!!! lol just putting it out there, we shud be reconised more for this method.
mikkilaavamediaoyu got it all wrong Nothing wrong with Maori tattoos .quite the oipsopte I simply commenting on the tattoos being refererred to as Maori when they ought to be referred to as Polynesian influenced or Hawaiian As for the travel part What I meant to say was:If you’re into Maori tattoos .why not go to NZ or the Cooks -
When I took in my idea for my foot tattoo, my asrtit said that a lot of people had brought that same picture in. He suggested that he should just draw something up on my foot. I was a little apprehensive at first b/c i wasn’t sure if his design was going to be what I was looking for. I wanted cherry blossoms that looked real. I was afraid he would make them look cartoon-ish. When I went in for my appointment, I let him do what he wanted for the drawing. When I looked down when he was done, it was exactly what I wanted. I was completely happy with the results and he did an amazing job free-handing my cherry blossoms. I can’t imagine it being better.You are definitely going to get a one-of-a-kind tattoo by letting your asrtit free-hand it. But if you don’t like what he draws up, tell him and he should work with you until he has drawn something that you like. I’d say definitely go for it!
03.22.11 at 4:01 pm@scott racist assmadn.. kinda strange. dont know how you got triggered to go off on white people from an article about 50 Cent’s opinion on face tattoos. do you have some built up anger about other things? you not pleasing your woman? does your shitty dead end job have you on the ropes? call 1-800-gofuckurself. im white scott, but i have more rythm in my pinky than you do in your entire body. smh and youre prolly one the ignorant millions in america that asks why we still have so much racial tension in america today..
03.22.11 at 4:34 pmLISSSSSTEN@scott, that is a RACIST comment. it dont matetr what color skin you are, its about how you raised & who you be with. ive seen plenty of soft ass BLACK PEOPLE who live in the suburbs & act white all the time. on the other hand ive seen WHITE people, live a HOOD lifestyle. SKIN COLOR DOES NOT MATTER.
03.22.11 at 5:28 pmTrev@ GunDoggy What f*N job are you talking about? Yea baennrditg at a Nightclub sure it wont matter Anything outside of that u could forget about it 50 clearly understands the way u have to present yourself in certain settings No one is taking u serious with a Ice Cream Cone on your Face FACT!
Yup just like a razor cut. Not like the kind where you nick yourself shnviag, but like oops I just ran that box cutter through my hand or getting multiple papercuts in one spot. The cool thing is even though it hurts that bad, unlike the above things the pain is gone FAST like it goes to like 2 or 3 out of ten for a few hours, then nothing.
Love the design, love graetrs, love women with tattoos. The first reply is very accurate, tattoos will only do what you put them thru. If you get bigger and your skin doesnt stretch out properly (stretch marks, cellutlite, etc.) then yeah it’ll ruin the whole tattoo for good. I should know I got one running up the inside of my upper arm and then I got bigger and didnt take care of my skin as I did get bigger and now the whole tattoo is ruined by the stretch marks I got. The tattoo can be redone, but only when I get to a smaller size to make it all even and complete again. Getting a tattoo in my opinion means that you are going to take care of it for the rest of your life, meaning staying in shape to keep it looking good, putting sunscreen on it to protect it, not going near salt water for like 6 months after getting one, etc. Be good to the tattoo and the area its on and it’ll always be good to you.
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