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Photo Science -- Can you read this tombstone?

Drake ChambersDrake Chambers Lay out my formal shorts.Registered User regular
edited September 2010 in Help / Advice Forum
I've got a photo of a headstone from Arlington. It is quite old and worn and it's difficult to make out all of the lettering. I've futzed around with Photoshop to make things a little more visible and had a bit of luck but don't really know what I'm doing and thought maybe an expert would have better luck. I also wouldn't be surprised to hear that there just isn't enough detail visible in the photo.

I know the name is Robert Birch. The bottom three lines are legible enough. I'm pretty sure the line fourth from the bottom says "(something) INFANTRY". I'm most curious about that (something) and the line above. It looks like ???RIC but that's the best guess I've got.

Photo behind the spoiler.
BirchRobert2.jpg

Drake Chambers on

Posts

  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    edited September 2010
    History [something.]
    Tech Infantry.

    That second word is too badly worn to tell. Usually they put what they were recognized for on that line. Medals, etc.

    I want to say that second word is Bravery. Looks like it ends in ry.

    bowen on
    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
  • matt has a problemmatt has a problem Points to 'off' Points to 'on'Registered User regular
    edited September 2010
    It looks like "Tec 5 Infantry" above World War II, which seems to be a rank or class of some sort. Googling "tec 5 infantry" gets a bunch of results. The part above that, the first word is "District", the rest is too hard to make out under the stain. Try going back and doing a rubbing of it using paper and charcoal, then taking a picture of that.

    matt has a problem on
    nibXTE7.png
  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    edited September 2010
    best_cleanup.png

    That's the best I can do for it.

    Looks like HSTRICY

    bowen on
    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    edited September 2010
    It might be his state/location, District is used for location in military lingo sometimes.

    bowen on
    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
  • matt has a problemmatt has a problem Points to 'off' Points to 'on'Registered User regular
    edited September 2010
    It could actually say "District of Columbia", the letter on the right appears to be an A, with an I preceding, and what appears to be an M a little further left.

    matt has a problem on
    nibXTE7.png
  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    edited September 2010
    That does seem to fit. A rubbing might give a bit more meaning to those letters that are hard to make out under the damage.

    bowen on
    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
  • EggyToastEggyToast Jersey CityRegistered User regular
    edited September 2010
    It does say District of Columbia.
    BirchRobert2.jpg

    EggyToast on
    || Flickr — || PSN: EggyToast
  • RuckusRuckus Registered User regular
    edited September 2010
    TEC 5 is a Rank, basically a Corporal with a specialty, also known as E-5.

    I think the first line under the name is definitely DISTRICT OF something, if you overlay DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (at about a 23 point arial font, all-caps) it really seems to fit, especially if you look where the L in COLUMBIA winds up, and you can also see the IA at the end.

    Ruckus on
  • Drake ChambersDrake Chambers Lay out my formal shorts. Registered User regular
    edited September 2010
    I suspected TEC-5 but had never seen that abbreviation before.

    As for District of Columbia, well done! Whatever you did with that image really made a difference. Can I ask what it was?

    Either way, outstanding work guys. Thanks to all for your help!

    Drake Chambers on
  • matt has a problemmatt has a problem Points to 'off' Points to 'on'Registered User regular
    edited September 2010
    Adjusting the light/dark levels, then inverting the colors.

    matt has a problem on
    nibXTE7.png
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