Dagger through a heart
A heart run through by a dagger, often with the motto “Death Before Dishonor”. The Navy’s historians read it as the end of a love affair through unfaithfulness.
Meaning
The Naval History and Heritage Command lists the dagger piercing a heart among traditional sailors’ tattoos, often combined with the motto “Death Before Dishonor”, and says it stands for the end of a relationship due to unfaithfulness. The Friends of HMS Trincomalee give it two possible meanings: betrayal, or courage in the face of misfortune. Sailors have kept wearing the motto: a Navy photograph from the October 1973 Middle East war shows a crewman signalling during refuelling on USS Little Rock, flagship of the Sixth Fleet, with a “Death Before Dishonor” tattoo.
Origin and history
In the Second World War the motto was one of the best-known tattoos among American servicemen. Danielle Boiardi, curator of the Lyle Tuttle Tattoo Art Collection, told the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum that “Death before Dishonor” featured in the four or five most famous motifs of the war, drawn as a dagger, a dagger with a snake, a dagger through a heart or a dagger through a skull. She placed it among the patriotic tattoos meant to bolster men’s spirits; when she sees it, she said, she thinks of the wartime resolve to protect the future of the United States, “our freedom, and our liberties”.
Heartbreak or courage
The sources read the design differently. The Navy’s historians give heartbreak through unfaithfulness; the Trincomalee article allows betrayal or courage; Boiardi’s account of the war is about courage and patriotism. The sweetheart’s own tattoo was often the Swallow with her name.
Read next
- Next in Traditional tattoo motifsRose of No Man’s LandA rose tattoo that servicemen wore in thanks to the nurses who cared for the wounded. It takes its name from a song of 1918 written for the Red Cross nurses of the First World War.
- The same shape in Andean and Inca symbolsInti Raymi (festival of the sun)The Inca festival of the sun, held at the June solstice in Cusco. Banned under Spanish rule, it was revived in 1944 and is staged every 24 June at the Coricancha, the main square and Sacsayhuamán.
See also
Swallow, Anchor, Full-rigged ship, Shellback turtle, Dragon, Nautical star.
Sources
- Sailors’ Tattoos: A Basic Primer, Heritage: customs and traditions, published 4 December 2024 (Internet Archive copy, 29 January 2026), Naval History and Heritage Command (U.S. Navy), Some Traditional Sailors’ Tattoos: Dagger piercing a heart; photo USN 1157531
- Body Art During World War II: From the Lyle Tuttle Tattoo Art Collection, Smithsonian Voices, National Air and Space Museum, 5 October 2020: interview with Danielle Boiardi, curator of the Lyle Tuttle Tattoo Art Collection (Internet Archive copy, 29 September 2026), Smithsonian Magazine, Can you talk about some of the different types of tattoos and their meaning?
- Sailors’ Tattoos and their Meanings, Quarterdeck, 2010 issue 2 (Summer), pp. 10–11 (offprint QD6), Friends of HMS Trincomalee (National Museum of the Royal Navy, Hartlepool), p. 1
The same shape elsewhere
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Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 9, 2026. How we research
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