Daniel J. Daly and the Two Medals of Honor That Shaped Marine Valor

Nov 20 , 2025

Daniel J. Daly and the Two Medals of Honor That Shaped Marine Valor

Sgt. Major Daniel J. Daly stood alone amid the chaos of a savage battlefield, smoke choking the air, enemy fire cutting through the night. The Marines around him faltered, but Daly didn’t waver. With a rifle in one hand and a pistol in the other, he fought like a man possessed—unyielding, relentless. “Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?” That cry carries the weight of a warrior who’s stared death down more times than most can count.

The Roots of a Warrior

Born in Glen Cove, New York, Daniel Joseph Daly’s life began humbly in 1873. Before the uniform, he worked the docks, carving bone and sinew against the grind of everyday hardship. It was a brutal education. Pain, sacrifice, and loyalty burned in his bones before the Marines ever claimed him.

His faith was quiet but ironclad. Daly believed a higher purpose shaped his scars. Like the psalmist who faces enemies without fear, he found strength not just in muscle and gunpowder—but in conviction.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” — Joshua 1:9

This was no hollow sermon. It was a creed writ large on each battlefield he survived.

The Boxer Rebellion: A Baptism of Fire

By 1900, Daly was no green recruit. He was a hardened Marine sergeant deployed to China during the Boxer Rebellion, an uprising that viewed foreigners and Western influence as invaders. The Imperial Siege of Peking became Daly’s crucible.

When the allied forces tried to break the siege, bullets and shells rained down. It was chaos, blood, and relentless hand-to-hand combat in cramped streets. Daly’s Medal of Honor citation recalls how he “carried a wounded comrade under heavy enemy fire” and how his “fearless conduct inspired his unit again and again.”¹

This wasn’t reckless bravado. It was a warrior’s responsibility. When bullets shattered lives around him, Daly’s actions forged survival. He wasn’t just fighting the enemy outside but the fear inside. Every time he pulled a fallen Marine from the line of fire, he rewrote what it meant to be Marine—loyalty unto death.

The Great War: Valor on a New Front

World War I was a different beast—trenches, gas, artillery that erased kilometers of earth. By then, Daly had risen to Sergeant Major, the Marine’s senior enlisted rank. His battlefield was Belleau Wood in June 1918, a crucible that would become legend.

Amid thick woods and hell on earth, Marine lines held firm against relentless German assaults. Under swirling machine-gun fire and artillery blasts, Daly rallied his men, pouring courage in like blood. His leadership stopped routs. He directed counterattacks with clear eyes and steady hands.

His second Medal of Honor came from these actions, cited explicitly for “extraordinary heroism” over several days of savage fighting. He was the rock in the storm. His words, again etched in history, remind us of a battle’s brutal calculus.

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

The phrase was not just a rallying cry—it was a scroll of defiance written across a generation’s sacrifice.²

Recognition and Reverence

Daly earned two Medals of Honor—one during the Boxer Rebellion, one in WWI—an extraordinary feat matched by only a handful of American veterans. He also earned the Navy Cross and numerous campaign medals, each telling stories soaked in struggle and glory.

Commanders and fellow Marines praised not just his courage but his humility. Gen. Smedley Butler, twice a Medal of Honor recipient himself, lauded Daly as “the fightingest Marine I ever knew.”³ That respect wasn’t just rank or medals—it came from knowing the man stood in the worst hell and never broke.

Legacy Forged in Blood and Faith

Daniel J. Daly’s story is a Testament of Steel—wounds hidden beneath uniform, the silent cost behind each hero’s moment. His courage was not just physical but spiritual. He embodied duty that transcended personal safety, living every moment in service to a cause larger than himself.

His legacy instructs us in the language of sacrifice: unvarnished, raw, and honest.

Sacrifice carves the path to redemption.

The warrior’s life is not a call to glory but a summons to wrestle with fear, bear scars, and stand firm when the dark closes in.

“No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” — John 10:18

Daly took up the burden willingly. For him, and countless others like him, valor and faith are inseparable. That is the gift they leave behind—a furious, luminous hope forged on bloodstained earth.

Sources

1. History Division of the United States Marine Corps, Medal of Honor Recipients: China Relief Expedition (Boxer Rebellion) 2. Marine Corps History Division, Medal of Honor Recipients: World War I 3. Col. Smedley D. Butler, "Old Gimlet Eye: The Life of a Marine"