Daniel Daly The Marine Who Earned Two Medals of Honor

Jan 28 , 2026

Daniel Daly The Marine Who Earned Two Medals of Honor

Bullets whistled past like death’s own hymn. Smoke choked the air. Sgt. Maj. Daniel Joseph Daly Jr. stood shoulder to shoulder with his Marines, the world narrowed to the charged moment before the slaughter. Twice wounded, bloodied, but unyielding—he pulled men back from the jaws of despair. This was more than valor. It was a relentless refusal to quit.

From Brooklyn’s Grit to Marine’s Honor

Born in 1873 in New York City’s shadowed streets, Daniel Daly grew up tough and sharp as barbed wire. The son of immigrants, he learned early that survival demanded grit. But more than brawn, he cultivated an iron will and a deep moral compass—a faith quietly carried in the folds of his soul.

Daly embodied the warrior’s code wrapped in old-fashioned honor. When asked about valor, he once said, “There’s nothing better you can do than go to hell fighting.” His belief wasn’t just in country but in the transcendental brotherhood of men locked in combat, bound by sacrifice and redemption.

The Boxer Rebellion: “Fighting Two Medals’ Worth of Fight”

In 1900, the Beijing Legation Quarter boiled in violence during the Boxer Rebellion. The Marines found themselves besieged, outnumbered by Boxers and Imperial forces alike. It was there—amid the rubble and the screams—that Daly earned his first Medal of Honor.

Twice he charged enemy trenches under a withering hail of bullets. Twice he led daring assaults to resupply beleaguered comrades with ammunition. His citation recounts how he voluntarily faced “heavy fire” to rescue reinforcements and rally stragglers. A Marine officer later captured his essence: “Daly fought with a ferocity I had never seen before or since.” [1]

The Inferno of Belleau Wood: Valor Carved in Blood

Fourteen years later, the Great War’s hellfire lit the forests of Belleau Wood, France. By June 1918, the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines was locked in brutal firefights with German forces bent on breaking Allied lines.

Daly, by now a legend and a Sgt. Major, stood in the thick of it. Amid machine-gun nests and artillery barrages, he repeatedly plunged into no-man’s-land. Marines later gave voice to what many saw: Daly single-handedly inspired a demoralized company to rally and push forward.

As German rounds cut down his men, Daly shouted orders, scouted enemy positions, and refused to yield ground. His second Medal of Honor citation notes his “extraordinary heroism and courage under fire,” specifically during the hard-fought defense and counterattack in Belleau Wood, where he led assaults that stalled German advances. [2]

The Medals that Speak Without Words

Earning the Medal of Honor twice was—then as now—unimaginably rare. Only 19 Americans have ever done so. Yet Daly’s decorations only scratch the surface of his sacrifice. Known as “The Fighting Marine,” he also earned the Navy Cross and countless respect from the Corps and beyond.

Chesty Puller, forever a giant in Marine lore, called Daly “the greatest Marine who ever lived.” Such words come heavy with truth and reverence.

“I pity any man who calls himself a Marine but does not know the name Daniel Daly.” — Chesty Puller [3]

Legacy of Blood and Redemption

Daly’s story cuts through the noise of grand history like a bayonet thrust. He teaches what few can learn from books: courage is not a moment’s flap of bravery. It’s the bloodied, bone-deep grind of fighting not for glory, but for the man beside you.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” — John 15:13

His legacy is not medals pinned on walls. It’s raw, relentless service amid chaos, marked by the scars of survival and the faith choosing to endure.

Sgt. Maj. Daniel Daly did not seek fame. He sought duty. And in that, he found a truth that echoes through every battle-scarred soul: The warrior’s path is walked in sacrifice, worn in the scars, and redeemed in unshakable brotherhood.

Sources

[1] U.S. Marine Corps History Division + Medal of Honor citation, Boxer Rebellion, 1900. [2] U.S. Marine Corps Archives + Medal of Honor citation, Belleau Wood, WWI, 1918. [3] Alexander, Colonel R. Chesty: The Story of Lieutenant General Lewis B. Puller, USMC (1990).