Firefighters use ink as link to fallen friends

After Massachusetts legalized tattoos in early 2001, Nashua firefighter Roger Hall began exploring what kind he might get. Maybe a burning shamrock or a fire-breathing dragon.

But after 9/11, Hall decided to get "inked" in a more personal way: to remember the 343 fellow firefighters who died in the World Trade Center attacks.

Hall eventually chose a delicate black ink drawing of St. Florian, often called the patron saint of firefighters, from an image he saw on the back of a firefighter prayer card.

Tattoos have always been popular among firefighters. But after the attack on the twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001, many local firefighters said they felt moved to honor the memory of their fallen comrades.

Some have designs that feature images of the burning towers; others depict fallen family members or friends. One Bellingham firefighter has the numerals 9-11-01, along with the date of another tragedy for firefighters, 12-3-99, when six firefighters were lost in a Worcester warehouse blaze.

Nashua firefighter Michael Johansson struggled with how to commemorate those lost in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. After making 10 trips to New York City for funerals and assisting local rescue efforts, Johansson chose a real-life scene for his first tattoo: a well-known photograph showing a despondent firefighter, his head down.

"To me, that was one of the first images I saw after the World Trade Center tragedy," said Johansson. The picture was taken just four hours after the collapse of the north tower.

Mike Clarke, a fifth-generation firefighter, went to ground zero in the immediate aftermath. Clarke works on the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force in Beverly, but grew up on Long Island and lost 22 firefighter and civilian friends that day. His tattoo includes the image of a New York City firefighter he knew and an inscription that replicates the POW-style memorial bracelet given to the family of another firefighter friend who was killed.

Clarke got his tattoo in early 2002, after spending months driving between New York City and Beverly to attend 18 funerals.

"It was very important to be there for as many as I could," said Clarke. "It's part of a firefighter tradition."

Exactly when tattoos became popular among firefighters is unclear. Some say it started hundreds of years ago during Japan's Edo period, when closely-built homes were made of paper and wood.

"In Japan, there is a tradition of firefighters getting tattooed," said C. W. Eldridge, a tattoo historian in Berkeley, Calif. "Firefighters would fight in loincloths, almost naked, so full-body tattooing was a big part of their identity.

"Firefighting is one of those high-risk occupations that make people superstitious," Eldridge said. "They'll get tattoos to quell that fear. It's commemorative, like divers get sharks tattooed on them to keep the sharks away; it's the very thing they fear the most."

Richard Marcoux said his tattoo proclaiming, "Fallen Brothers, Never Forgotten" has gotten a lot of attention. That's just what Marcoux, now retired after 28 years with the Bellingham Fire Department, wanted.

"I sat and thought about it for a year after 9/11 before I decided what I wanted," said Marcoux. "Firefighting is a very tight brotherhood. It really hit me and this was the best way I felt it could be commemorated." His is the tattoo that features both dates, 9-11-01, and 12-3-99.

Marcoux's tattooed forearm "brought out the intense feeling of sorrow firefighters go through when they lose a brother," he said. "I wanted it where everyone can see it and not forget. And as long as I'm walking around, they won't forget."

When Hall, the Nashua firefighter, was deciding what kind of tattoo to get, he asked his friends in firefighting to send him pictures of theirs. Word spread, and he received so many he started a website devoted strictly to firefighters and their tattoos.

Hall's website, strikethebox

.com, features more than 800 images, and each week, firefighters from across the United States send in dozens more new photos. The site now boasts 85,000 visitors a month, Hall said. "I had no idea it would grow to what it is," he said. "It's great to know the other firefighters enjoy it as well."

At one point, Hall considered shutting down the site because he couldn't keep up with the deluge of images and the calls from testy firefighters wanting to know why their "tat" wasn't up yet. Two Nashua firefighters now help him update.