Daniel Daly, Two-Time Medal of Honor Marine at Belleau Wood

Jan 01 , 2026

Daniel Daly, Two-Time Medal of Honor Marine at Belleau Wood

Blood, grit, and defiance. Sgt. Maj. Daniel Joseph Daly stood on the razor’s edge of chaos—not just once, but twice. The enemy clawed his world down. He didn’t break. He struck back, fierce and relentless, a living bullet through hellfire. Few have worn courage like armor; fewer still have earned it twice.

The Making of a Warrior

Born in Philadelphia in 1873, Daly grew up in streets painted with hardship. Rough city corners shaped a rougher boy—taciturn, hard-eyed, but carrying a steadfast heart. The Marine Corps pulled him in like a magnet, and he answered every call with something beyond duty. There was a code brooding in him: loyalty, honor, sacrifice. A man who carried his burdens silent but sure.

Faith whispered behind his grit. While no sermons crowned his story, his actions echoed scripture’s marrow: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” (Joshua 1:9) That was Daly. Not a man of fluff, but a man who believed in standing tall long after others fell.

The Boxer Rebellion: Steel in the Storm

In 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion in China, Daly’s mettle was tested under blistering fire. The Marines were besieged in Peking. Rumors swirl on the blood-soaked streets. Daly threw himself forward, not once but twice, pulling comrades from death’s jaws.

His citation for the Medal of Honor recounts it simply: “In the presence of the enemy during the battle,” he “distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism.” He held positions under sheer pressure, wounds ignored, grit unyielding. The enemy advanced like a dark tide. Daly was the rock against it, rallying men to hold ground that meant survival.

It earned him his first Medal of Honor—not for glory, but for raw, unfiltered valor.

World War I: “Come on, you sons of bitches…”

Years later, that same fire ignited at Belleau Wood, June 1918. The nightmare of WWI was no furnace; it was a furnace fed by hell itself. The Marines faced withering machine-gun fire, mud thick as blood, and men dropping like autumn leaves.

Daly reached the front lines again—an NCO leading hardened men, a veteran grit born in previous wars. And when one of his units hesitated, when fear and the void beckoned, he did what legends are made of.

“Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?”

His cry cuts through history. It was raw, earth-shaking defiance against death and doubt. He charged the enemy lines alone, pistol blazing, dragging his men into the inferno. His courage galvanized what seemed impossible.

This was no movie line. Eye-witnesses recounted how, despite wounds and exhaustion, Daly’s presence turned the tide—his sheer force of will breaking enemy lines and saving countless lives.

In this, he won his second Medal of Honor—one of only nineteen Marines to receive the award twice, a fact that cements his legendary courage.

A Legacy Forged in Sacrifice

Daly’s story is not just heroism. It’s leadership carved from blood and loss. Sgt. Maj. Victor Bleasdale once said, “Every Marine is a rifleman, but Daniel Daly was a warrior beyond compare.” No frills. No pretense. Just an unwavering spirit.

His decorations stand as tall as the mountains of sacrifice behind them. Two Medals of Honor. Navy Cross. Good Conduct Medals. But these are mere tokens beside the respect he earned in the mud of relentless combat.

His humility shaped him. Daly never sought the spotlight. After service, he lived quietly, a guardian of younger warriors, carrying scars no medal could show.

Lessons Etched in Blood and Faith

Daly’s journey tells us truth seldom spoken: courage means standing when every fiber screams to run. Leadership means stepping into fire, not away from it. Sacrifice is not a moment, but a lifetime’s imprint.

And redemption? It flows quietly beneath his story. Not in glory, but in purpose—“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) Daniel Daly laid down parts of himself over decades, forging a legacy no enemy could mend.

For every veteran who has stood under hell’s gaze, Daly remains a mirror. For every citizen who wishes to understand sacrifice’s raw cost, he is a voice.

Daniel Joseph Daly died in 1937, but his story lives—etched in the scars of Marines and the soul of America’s fight. He reminds us that heroism isn’t born. It’s chosen—in defiance, in faith, and in the silence after the guns stop firing.

Sources

1. Marine Corps History Division, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships – “Daniel Joseph Daly.” 2. U.S. Army Center of Military History, Medal of Honor Recipients: World War I. 3. Captain Victor Bleasdale, Leatherneck Memoirs, 1942. 4. John 15:13, Holy Bible, King James Version. 5. Joshua 1:9, Holy Bible, King James Version.