Photo Science -- Can you read this tombstone?

Drake Chambers

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.

bowen

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.

matt has a problem

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.

bowen

That's the best I can do for it.

Looks like HSTRICY

bowen

It might be his state/location, District is used for location in military lingo sometimes.

matt has a problem

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.

bowen

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.

EggyToast

It does say District of Columbia.

Ruckus

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.

Drake Chambers

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!

matt has a problem

Adjusting the light/dark levels, then inverting the colors.