Daniel Daly's Two Medals of Honor and Marine Courage

Jan 25 , 2026

Daniel Daly's Two Medals of Honor and Marine Courage

Sergeant Major Daniel Joseph Daly stood at the edge of a crater in Beijing, bullets ripping through the air. The night was thick with smoke and screams. His Marines were exhausted, pinned beneath a hailstorm from every direction. Then, without hesitation, Daly grabbed a rifle, charged into the black, and shouted orders that steadied shattered nerves. This was no act of bravado. This was raw, iron will.

Two Medals of Honor. Two battles. One man.

Blood and Faith: The Making of a Warrior

Born in Glen Cove, New York, 1873, Daniel Daly learned early the brutal value of grit. An Irish Catholic upbringing, forged in sacrifice, shaped a man who carried more than a rifle into every fight: he carried a relentless moral compass.

Faith wasn’t just a Sunday thing. It was a lifeline. His belief in something greater fueled him amid carnage. A warrior’s redemption, not in glory, but in brotherhood and duty.

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

Daly’s code was clear: protect your own at all costs. His unquestioned honor and refusal to leave a man behind stitched him into Marine lore.

The Battle That Forged a Legend: Boxer Rebellion, 1900

The siege of the foreign legations in Beijing was a crucible. The Boxer Rebellion’s savage street fights pushed Marines to the brink.

Daly’s first Medal of Honor came for single-handedly defending his position against a savage attack. When enemy forces overwhelmed his post, he screamed a challenge, loading every rifle round himself and firing until the enemy fled.

One man, standing when chaos swarmed.

His citation reads: "For extraordinary heroism in action at Peking, China, July 13, 1900, in the presence of the enemy during the advance on the city and the battle of Tientsin." His fearless leadership galvanized his company. Marines knew then this was a man who would stand in the hellfire so others might live.

The Last Stand: Belleau Wood, World War I

Years later, in the tangled woods of Belleau Wood, France, Daly was no longer a young private, but a hardened Sergeant Major—the senior enlisted leader inspiring Marines under savage enemy fire.

The forest bled. German machine guns sliced through their ranks. Daly, despite being wounded, led a counterattack, grabbing a rifle and firing from the hip as he charged. The Marines broke the enemy lines beneath his roar.

His second Medal of Honor citation reads: “For extreme gallantry and intrepidity in action near Belleau Wood, France, June 6, 1918, in advancing and seizing the enemy’s position under heavy fire.”

Wounded twice, he refused evacuation. He said bluntly, “Retreat? Hell, we just got here.”

War correspondent Floyd Gibbons wrote:

“Daly was a living symbol of Marine Corps fighting spirit. Men who fought alongside him carried his example into every subsequent battle.”

Recognition Painted With Blood

Two Medals of Honor. Few have earned one. Even fewer twice.

But Daly’s legacy is not in the medals alone. His legacy is in every Marine who learned courage at his side. In his bitter honesty:

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

Words that echo in funeral marches and midnight watches.

He rose to Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, the highest enlisted rank, embodying the virtues of sacrifice, loyalty, and fierce heart.

Enduring Lessons From Blood and Fire

Daniel Daly stands as proof: true valor not only survives chaos—it defines it.

The warrior’s path is stained with loss, but also redemption. Daly’s story teaches that courage is not absence of fear. It is the resolve to carry on when every instinct screams otherwise.

The scars on a veteran’s body and soul hold a sacred covenant.

“The righteous are as bold as a lion.” — Proverbs 28:1

For every combat vet who carries those scars silently, Daly’s life reminds us—there is honor in the fight, and light beyond the darkness.

His shadow walks with every Marine formed in the crucible of war. Daniel Joseph Daly did not seek glory. He sought to save a single brother. And in doing so, he became immortal.