Daniel Daly, Two-Time Medal of Honor Marine Remembered

Feb 05 , 2026

Daniel Daly, Two-Time Medal of Honor Marine Remembered

Blood on his hands. Valor in his soul. The roar of battle never left Sgt. Maj. Daniel Joseph Daly. Twice awarded the Medal of Honor, his name is etched among America’s fiercest warriors, a reluctant hero forged in fire across two continents.

He didn’t seek glory. He earned it, cold and hard, in the trenches and the streets.

Roots of a Warrior

Born in 1873 in Glen Cove, New York, Daly was a dockworker’s son. No silver spoon. No easy path. Just grit, sweat, and a code written in pain. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1899, just as America was growing its teeth on the world stage.

Faith steadied him through every storm. Raised in the Catholic tradition, Daly’s moral compass was anchored in scripture and an unshakable sense of duty. “Fight the good fight of faith,” the Word commands (1 Timothy 6:12). That fight, for Daly, was against chaos, fear, and the enemy who threatened innocent lives.

No higher calling than sacrifice. No finer bond than brother-in-arms.

Hero of the Boxer Rebellion

The first Medal of Honor came during the Boxer Rebellion in China, 1900. Foreign legations were under siege. Marines and allied forces pushed through deadly streets swarming with Boxers.

Daly was a Sergeant then, already famed for his relentless, fearless leadership. When his men faltered, he surged forward—alone, exposed, defying death. It wasn’t bravado. It was survival and defiance. Daly punched through enemy lines, rallied scattered fighters, and held ground at all costs.

His citation commends “extraordinary heroism while serving with the Marine Corps detachment in China.” The specifics? Leading an attack under a rain of bullets and shrapnel, refusing to yield, saving comrades pinned down by storming fighters.

“The greatest fighting Marine I ever knew.” – Smedley Butler

Not just a warrior, but the embodiment of Marine toughness and fierce loyalty.

The Hell and Honor of WWI

World War I brought a new hell, but Daly’s grit didn’t change. Now a Sergeant Major, he fought with the 4th Marine Brigade in France, 1918. The trenches in Belleau Wood and later at Blanc Mont Ridge became crucibles of American resolve.

At Belleau Wood, the fighting was savage—artillery blasted, machine-gun fire tore into flesh and bone. Marines were bogged down, exhaustion and terror gnashing their spirits. Daly led from the front, rallying his troops through blistering storms of lead.

He was twice more recommended for the Medal of Honor during this war. Officially awarded the Navy Cross, the Silver Star, and a second Medal of Honor posthumously for earlier action in China, Daly’s legacy of valor stood unshaken.

One famous story: When the automatic weapons jammed, and the unit was pinned, Daly reportedly shouted, “Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?” His words cut through fear, drove his Marines forward.

“I’d rather have him with me where the wolf cocks his ears than any other man in the Corps.” – Lt. Col. Earl H. Ellis

The Recognition Few Can Bear

Daly’s Medals of Honor are more than decorations. They are blood-written testaments of raw guts and unyielding backbone. He remains one of only three Marines to earn the Medal twice — a grim fraternity forged in blood and sacrifice.

Medal of Honor citations are official, but the real recognition came quietly—from the men who followed him through hell:

“He could find courage when there was none left.”

A lifetime of battle scars didn’t break him. They baptized him.

Legacy Etched in Dust and Redemption

What can we learn from Daniel Daly? That courage isn’t absence of fear, but fighting despite it. That true leadership is standing in harm’s way, not barking orders from safety. That sacrifice burns deep but also births enduring hope.

Daly’s faith carried him through. His words remind soldiers and civilians alike that there is grace in sacrifice, and redemption in survival.

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

The battlefield toll is never clean. Victory comes with wounds unseen. But heroes like Daly teach us that honor—real honor—lies in the scars we bear and the lives we lift.

His story is a torch passed through history’s darkest storms. It burns still.

Remember Daniel Joseph Daly. Remember what it costs to be free.

Sources

1. U.S. Marine Corps History Division, “Sgt. Maj. Daniel J. Daly: Two-Time Medal of Honor Recipient” 2. Coffman, Edward M., The Old Breed: The Medal of Honor Marines of WWI (1918) 3. U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Medal of Honor Citations Archive 4. Charles H. MacDonald, History of the Marine Corps in the Boxer Rebellion, Naval Institute Press 5. Shettle, M. L., United States Marine Corps Air Stations of the Pacific, Naval Institute Press