One of the most classic of the old school WWII tattoos, the black rose was the mark of one who had looked death in the face and survived.
Sweet story about this one. A WWII vet came into the shop and announced he was done with this old youthful indiscretion, the cherry with "Here's mine, where's yours?" he got when he was 17 and going off to war. He said "I don't want to go to my grave with it." So in honor of his recently deceased dearly loved wife we obliterated the past with a red rose, and put her name above.
