Trivia Questions (Answers @ end)
- Who said, “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”?
- In what movie did we hear, “I see dead people.”?
- In what song (and who sang it) did we hear these words?
What’s your name?
Who’s your daddy?
Is he rich like me?
Has he taken, any time
To show you what you need to live
Listen to the audio of this blog, read by Andy Adkins. Click the “Audio” button below.
I have a tattoo and I’m damn proud of it.
No, the “Mom” tattoo below is not mine; it’s just a lead off image to this blog post. Though, “MOM” was pretty popular back then… that, and a Navy anchor on the forearm, like Popeye.
But, I digress…
Back in “my day,” (mid-70s) not many people outside the military had tattoos. Or, at least as I remember.
Now… there are TV shows (more than one) about “ink.” I don’t watch them. But I have to admit that I am fascinated by the different types of designs and colors of today’s tattoos. Some of these tattoo artists are, IMO, quite talented.
I’m not here to judge whether having a tattoo is taboo or not, whether it is fashionable or not, or whether you should or shouldn’t get a tattoo. That’s not my job. That’s your own personal decision.
All I’m doing today is telling you my story—my “journey”—of my tattoo.
Westpac ’75—Hong Kong
Even though I’d already been in the Navy for two years, I didn’t get a tattoo until August 1975 when USS Kitty Hawk was on a Westpac cruise and ported in Hong Kong.
We were in Hong Kong for a total of six days. Hong Kong didn’t have a pier big enough to dock the Kitty Hawk, so we anchored out in the harbor near Green Island and took ferries from the ship to the port.
The trip in wasn’t too bad. But that trip on the way back to the ship… on a dark night… in rough water… rocking back & forth, side to side… after a night of heavy drinking… Let’s just say it wasn’t a pretty sight, and leave it at that.
But, I digress.
We also had what we called “max liberty,” meaning that you didn’t have to come back to the ship unless you had duty. Lucky me, I pulled duty the first day in port, so I had to wait my turn to go ashore, so to speak.
But during those six days, I actually did some touristing while in Hong Kong (as opposed to parking my butt on a bar stool). But I’ll relay those adventures later in a future post.
It was an easy decision for me to head out the main gates, especially after having to stay aboard the first day in port. It was a little harder decision to decide where to get a tattoo in Hong Kong, and an even harder decision to decide which tattoo I wanted, once I decided to get one.
But like most journeys in life, sometimes the path is lit for you. Not all tattoo parlors offered free beer with your tattoo. That little tidbit of information helped to narrow down the choices.
A question for today’s “inkers“: do tattoo parlors (are they still called that?) offer free beer with a tattoo? Asking for a friend. [<grin>]
My friend, Charlie Brown
On this “tattoo” day, I went into Hong Kong with a friend, a fellow shipmate. Charlie Brown. Yep, that was his name, “Charlie Brown.” Not “Charles” and no, he didn’t have a middle name; just plain ole’ Charlie NMN Brown. He was a Yellow Shirt director in Fly 2 (amidships) on the flight deck of Kitty Hawk. Charlie was a great guy, kinda quiet, but one hell of an aircraft director.
You could always count on Charlie Brown to watch your back on the flight deck. More than once, I heard him over the headset yell, “Watch it, Smitty; jet blast.”
That basically meant that Smitty (another great Yellow Shirt director & friend) was fixin’ to get blown down by a turning jet’s exhaust, something all flight deck personnel experience at least once in their “flight deck lifetime.” I was no exception.
When you hear “jet blast,” you do what all firefighters tell you to do when you’re on fire, “Stop, drop, and roll.” Most of the time that worked.
But, in case you wanted to see what getting blown down the flight deck actually looks like, here’s a short 50-second YouTube video. Don’t worry. There’s no gore and no blood, just a fantastic “yahoo!” finish. Note that not everyone who got blown down has an encore like this fellow.
Pinky’s Tattoo Parlor
So, Charlie & I ended up at Pinky’s Tattoo Parlor in Hong Kong. Charlie knew the type of tattoo he wanted. I was really only going with Charlie to make sure he didn’t get into any trouble and do something stupid [<wink, wink>].
At the time I was there in ‘75, Hong Kong was still under British government rule. There were literally dozens of tattoo parlors, all within a short walk of the port. I should also note that it was against Navy regulations to get tattoos in Hong Kong because you were never sure how clean the needles were. I guess being so young and so naive, we simply didn’t care.
After all, we were Navy and we were invincible.
Once inside Pinky’s, Charlie sat down in the artist’s chair to begin his tattoo “session.” I was looking around at all the available designs and one of the other artists came up and asked if I wanted a tattoo.
I don’t know why, but I keyed in on a particular design that stood out among the hundreds of others. He asked “Which arm?” in broken English and I was hooked.
Free Beer
I sat down in the chair and watched this guy first trace the tattoo design on a piece of tracing paper. He then cleaned my upper right arm with soap and water and slapped the tracing paper on my arm, allowing the design to transfer to my skin.
Meanwhile a sweet young thing brought me a beer. It was free. It tasted good.
“Bring me another, please.”
The artist then started inking the tattoo using a needle gun with a needle that had a quick in and out motion, much like my mom’s old Singer sewing machine. He would dip the needle in a color ink and then started tracing the outline with the needle gun, periodically wiping the blood off my arm. It didn’t hurt too much.
“More beer, please.”
I was really fascinated by this artist’s ability to first tattoo in the outline, then start coloring in the other features. He told me in broken English that the first colors to fade out would be the whites, then the reds. The blues would be there until a “couple of weeks after I died.”
He was not lying. As I write this today, 45 years later, the whites have all disappeared and the reds are almost totally faded. The greens and blues are still bright and crisp.
When he finished, he washed everything down with soap and water, then applied some Vaseline and put a gauze bandage on, telling me not to wash it for two days, then pull off the bandage and wash well with warm soapy water.
“Would you like another beer?” “Why, yes, I would.”
A “Barber Pole” – are you f***ing kidding me?
When Charlie and I were almost done getting our tattoos, a sailor staggered into the tattoo parlor. I didn’t recognize him, but then, there were more than 5,500 sailors aboard Kitty Hawk during the cruise.
don’t “click to enlarge”
He was obviously drunk, but staggered around and said proudly at the top of his voice, “You guys ain’t got no balls.” At which point, he dropped his pants and skivvies to show off his “barber pole.”
Apparently, a few days earlier he had someone tattoo a barber pole onto his tallywacker. Everyone in the parlor roared. That was funny enough, but for years we’ve often wondered, “How did they do that?”
(Think about it… or don’t think about it). It still boggles my mind.
To this day…
I guess I’d had about three or four beers, all free during the session. Getting the tattoo didn’t hurt much and it is the only one I have.
At the time, my tattoo cost me forty Hong Kong dollars, or a little more than eight U.S. dollars.
I don’t know how they do it now, but I’m sure the technology has changed a little. At least, that’s what my daughter told me. I see tattoo parlors all over the place now and I see more people with more tattoos, not just veterans.
Some are, IMO, easier to look at than others.
I never got an infection and never wanted to have it removed. It is part of my soul.
Besides, my grandfather on my mom’s side had been in the Navy and he also had a tattoo. That was how I would break the news to my mom… in a letter… I’d start off by asking if Granddaddy had a tattoo.
“BTW, Mom. It’s not a barber pole… it’s an American Eagle… And I’m damn proud of it.”
Until we meet again,
Andy
Andy Adkins is a US Navy veteran (’73-77) and the author of several books. His newest novel, NEVER FORGET, is the story of A Vietnam Veteran’s Journey for Redemption & Forgiveness. NEVER FORGET is FREE (eBook, PDF) for all veterans. Download your FREE copy HERE.
Answers
- Desmond Tutu
- The Sixth Sense (1999), Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment)
- Time of the Season (1968), The Zombies, written by Rod Argent