Outspoken Comment by the Vicar of Ewell An attack on military tattoos has been made by the Vicar of Ewell, the Rev. C. G. Holland, who describes them as "glorifying mass murder and a foul blot on humanity."
Writing in his parish magazine, he says:
hundreds of thousands of our people will witness one of those whited sepulchres euphemistically called tattoos. Whited sepulchres because they present war under the aspect of a glorious adventure instead of showing it as it really is—a filthy, bestia} shambles." Whited sepulchres because they show our own side always victorious, the enemy always ignominiously, routed. They glorify a foul blot on humanity.
"If you. are going to be present at one of the Tattoos think of the millions of slain and mutilated in the Great Wai "When the grand finale of that heart-stirring pageant comes, when the strains of 'Abide With Me' have died away, will you remember' that you as an individual have been glorifying mass murder and worshipping a whited sepulchre?"
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.