WOOSTA, MA — Private First Class John “Sully” Sullivan surprised family and fellow Guardsmen alike yesterday, when he reported that he had legally changed his name to “Boston Strong,” after learning of the Twitter hashtag Bay Staters have been using to help bounce back from the April 15 bombings at the Boston Marathon.

Strong, a part-time supply specialist attached to the 182nd Infantry Regiment, said the idea came about by accident.

“I got some new ink,” he said, flexing his biceps. On the left is the word “Boston” in the style of the Red Sox uniforms. “STRONG” is on his right bicep, in bulky block letters surrounded by lightning bolts.

“It was just a way of showing everybody that Boston will come back, you know?” Strong continued. “But the guys kept calling me ‘Strong Boston’ because they said I should have ‘Boston’ on the right and ‘STRONG’ on the left. Which totally doesn’t make sense, because you read from left to right,” he added, looking down at his stick-like arms, and reading from his left to his right.