Rose of No Man’s Land
A 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.
Meaning
Danielle Boiardi, curator of the Lyle Tuttle Tattoo Art Collection, told the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum that the “Rose of No Man’s Land” tattoo is meant to thank the field nurses, who took “ungodly amounts of courage” to work where they did, caring for servicemen who were losing limbs and suffering blast injuries in the Second World War. It is, she said, about appreciation of the women who rescued so many servicemen.
Origin and history
The name comes from a song. “The Rose of No Man’s Land”, with words by Jack Caddigan and music by James A. Brennan, was published by Leo Feist of New York in 1918 as a tribute to the Red Cross nurses serving in the First World War, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History records. The museum’s copy, a Patriotic War Edition, has a red cover showing a nurse in No Man’s Land looking heavenward into a ray of light.
Other roses
We found no museum or archive source that gives a meaning for the rose in sailors’ tattooing in general, so this page covers only the design the record names. For what a rose meant in the Victorian language of flowers, see the red rose.
Read next
- Next in Traditional tattoo motifsSwallowA sailor’s tattoo for distance at sea. In the US Navy’s tradition each swallow stood for 5,000 nautical miles under way, and a bird that flies far and comes home stood for a safe return.
- The rose’s meaning in the Victorian language of flowers.Red roseIn the nineteenth-century flower dictionaries the rose meant love, or beauty. Charlotte de La Tour's French original of 1819 gave "beauty"; the English and American books that followed her mostly gave "love".
See also
Dagger through a heart, Anchor, Full-rigged ship, Shellback turtle, Dragon, Nautical star.
Sources
- 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 tell me about other unusual tattoos used by servicemen?
- “The Rose of No Man’s Land”, Sheet music, Leo Feist, New York, 1918, Patriotic War Edition: collection record (Internet Archive copy, 2025), Smithsonian Institution (National Museum of American History), object description
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols formed from curves and waves.
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 9, 2026. How we research
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