Country: United States

State: Pennsylvania

Fire Dept: Fairfax, Virginia

Year Started in Fire Service: 16

Rank: Firefighter (private)

Description: I wanted a way to tie in my love of the fire service. This original tattoo, a tribute to all who have fallen in the line of duty, tied together with an old house gong, would complete my expression. When an alarm was pulled, it would alert the firemen and they would respond to the respective alarm box. It also to notify each firehouse that someone's has died in the performance of their duties by ringing out the signal 5-5-5-5. The phrase under the alarm bell at the bottom of the tattoo comes from John Donne in the year 1623. You may recognize part of it as the lyrics to a Metallica album or a novel by Ernest Hemmingway. It reads:

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind... Mortality: The Bell

Perchance he for whom this bell tolls, may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me...may have caused it to toll for me...and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. - John Donne, 1623

Tattoo Location: Left upper arm

Year Inked: Jan, 2009

Studio: Knightvision Tattoo  (717) 792-8811

Artist: Brian Knight