Marine Finds Better Job Where Marine Tattoo Fits In, At The VA

Marine vet quits his job over 'Semper Fi' tattoo, finds his truer calling at a VA hospital
The Republic
Karina Bland
October 16, 2016

Marine Joseph Leal, a nurse at the VA hospital in Prescott, and Henry Alcott, 93, a vet who lives at the hospital. Both served in the Marines.
(Photo: Mark Henle/The Republic)

Joseph Leal was in the hallway of the historic veterans hospital in Prescott, on rounds as a registered nurse, when he saw an old man wheeling toward him.

“Good morning!” Leal called. He recognized the patient in the wheelchair as the one everyone called “Pops,” but it was the first time Leal had met him.

Pops rolled to a stop in front of Leal. “Let me see that,” he said. He took Leal’s wrist and turned it over to look at the tattoo on the inside of his forearm.

Pops studied the fierce-looking eagle atop a globe and anchor, the official emblem of the U.S. Marine Corps, with the words “Semper Fi” across the top and “U.S.M.C.” underneath, the letters inked in with scarlet and gold.
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