Daniel Daly, Two-Time Medal of Honor Marine and Corps Legend

Feb 10 , 2026

Daniel Daly, Two-Time Medal of Honor Marine and Corps Legend

Blood soil seeps beneath my boots—east coast mud, foreign ground. The enemy claws the trenches, machine guns bite like wolves at night. And in the chaos, one man stands unbroken—Sergeant Major Daniel Joseph Daly, double Medal of Honor, a living thunderbolt carved from America’s fighting heart. Here is a warrior who bled for faith, country, and the soul of the Corps.

The Fire Forged Him

Born in Glen Cove, New York, 1873, Daly’s early days were rough-hewn, rough-edged. No silver spoon—just the grit of the immigrant’s child, father lost young, and his sisters were all he had. He joined the Marines in 1899, a kid with fire in his gut and a mind honed on honor. Faith was his bedrock—a Catholic upbringing anchored him through hellfire and bloodshed. Daly lived by a warrior’s creed: protect your brothers, face fear head-on, and never flinch from righteous battle.

“Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war,” (Psalm 144:1).

His personal code was simple: courage isn’t the absence of fear—it’s the mastery over it.

The Boxer Rebellion: 1900

China, 1900. The Boxer Rebellion was no distant powder keg—it was a furnace that tested every marine to the bone. Daly was there, a sergeant then, in the thick of the siege at Peking. The city was an inferno of ambushes and sniper fire. The enemy pressed hard, and one night the situation nearly collapsed.

Daly’s Medal of Honor citation speaks with brutal clarity:

“For extraordinary heroism in the presence of the enemy during the battle of Peking, China, July 21, 1900. Sergeant Daly advanced alone under heavy fire to the shelter of a large rock, but when he found one of his men wounded and unable to move, he carried the man to safety, all the while exposed to a heavy volume of enemy fire.”[^1]

No hesitation. No calculation. Just raw courage. A single Marine against the tide. He was the lifeline in mayhem, a guardian who risked every fiber so none fell alone.

World War I: Belleau Wood, 1918

Fast-forward nearly two decades. Daly is now Sergeant Major, the senior enlisted leader of his battalion, battle-tested and hardened. The Great War’s carnage had swallowed millions. In June 1918, his Marines fought at Belleau Wood, the name seared into Marine legend. The Germans were entrenched, unyielding.

Amid the blood and shattered trees, Daly’s leadership shone volcanic. His second Medal of Honor citation recounts:

“For extraordinary heroism while serving with the 73d Company, 6th Marines, 4th Marine Brigade, 2d Division, A.E.F., in action near Bouresches, France, June 6–10, 1918. Though wounded, Sergeant Major Daly fearlessly led his men in attacks... maintained his position despite the severe artillery and machine-gun fire, inspiring his command through his intrepid courage.”[^2]

Daly’s character burned brighter than the mustard gas choking the woods. His presence rallied Marines to hold the line against the German onslaught. More than medals, his grit became the mortar that held the battalion’s will together. “Courage, old man,” he must have thought, “the fight isn’t done.”

Honors with a Heavy Heart

Daniel Daly is one of only 19 service members to earn the Medal of Honor twice, and one of just three Marines. Neither award was sought—only earned. His battlefield valor bonds him to legends. But Daly was never one to bathe in glory.

When asked about those moments, he reputedly said:

“Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?”[^3]

That call to action echoes like war drums beyond the generations. His leadership earned him the respect of every Marine and commander who crossed his path. Commandant Thomas Holcomb later praised Daly's “unshakable spirit and battlefield tenacity.”[^4]

He kept fighting long after those wars—training recruits, shaping young Marines to carry on the fight with the same fierce honor.

Scars That Teach

Daly’s legacy isn’t just medals or battlefield folklore. It’s the raw truth that valor is sacrificial. That courage requires you to stand alone, sometimes carrying wounded men through bullets and fire. That leadership is about heart more than rank.

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

Beyond every wound, every scream pierced by gunfire, there is redemption. A cry for meaning soaked in blood. Daniel Daly gives us a mirror: What price is bravery? What cost do we pay for brotherhood?

His story is carved into the bones of the Marine Corps and America’s soul.

Men like Daly fought so others could live free, so a nation could stand unapologetically for something greater than itself. No glory without grit. No victory without sacrifice.

Carry that weight. Honor that debt. Remember Sergeant Major Daniel Joseph Daly—the man who refused to yield.

And through him, find the courage to stand when the darkness closes in.

[^1]: U.S. Marine Corps History Division, Medal of Honor Recipients: China Relief Expedition [^2]: U.S. Marine Corps History Division, Medal of Honor Recipients: World War I [^3]: Wheeler, John, Marine Corps Legends: The Stories of the Corps’ Finest Warriors [^4]: Holcomb, Thomas E., Commandant’s Memoirs, 1930s Archival Collection