Daniel J. Daly’s Courage at Boxer Rebellion and Belleau Wood

Dec 09 , 2025

Daniel J. Daly’s Courage at Boxer Rebellion and Belleau Wood

Sgt. Major Daniel J. Daly stood knee-deep in mud. Bullets tore the air around him like angry hornets. No reinforcements. No orders but one: hold ground. The Boxer Rebellion was raging. His men faltered. Daly stepped forward. “Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?” His voice cracked the chaos like a whip.

Roots of a Fighter

Born in Oldham, Pennsylvania, in 1873, Daly was raised among working-class grit and an unshakable sense of duty. A blue-collar boy with a soldier’s heart, forged in the fires of inner-city hardship and maritime discipline. He joined the Marines in 1899, seeking something bigger than himself but never losing the code instilled in him early: stand firm, protect your own, never quit.

Faith was undercurrent, not spectacle. A quiet reliance on something greater—a moral compass through hell. His letters rarely spoke God’s name directly, but his actions echoed Psalms 18:39:

“For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.”

The Boxer Rebellion: Legendary Defiance

June 20, 1900. Beijing’s legations under siege by Boxers and Qing troops. Daly’s unit trapped inside a ramshackle compound. The Allied defenses wavered. Ammunition low. Morale thinner than the air they breathed.

Daly did more than hold a position. He led a defense with ferocity unmatched. That day, when the enemy overran a critical part of the perimeter, he didn’t retreat. Against overwhelming odds, he grabbed the colors, rallied his men, and launched a counterattack.

This was no lone heroic flurry. It was steady mettle grounded in responsibility—a live-wire leader in a storm of death.

His Medal of Honor citation for the Boxer Rebellion reads:

“In the presence of the enemy during the battle of Peking, China, 20 June 1900, Sergeant Major Daly distinguished himself by meritorious conduct.”

World War I: Immovable Rock at Belleau Wood

Fourteen years later, the mud of Belleau Wood soaked his boots again. This time, a full battlefield of American doughboys pinned down by German machine guns and artillery. The Marines faced annihilation. Daly was a battalion sergeant major, the heartbeat of his command post.

Amid the chaos of close-quarter fighting in June 1918, Daly tossed not one, but two grenade attacks back to the enemy when the supply ran out—or rather, when silence could mean death. He saved entire squads, moving through barbed wire and bullets like a shadow with a death wish.

The world barely knew his name then, but those who fought beside him remember the grit that refused to die. His MoH citation from Belleau Wood notes:

“For extraordinary heroism in action while serving with the 6th Marine Regiment, in the vicinity of Bouresches, France, 27–29 June 1918.”

The Weight of Honors, The Debt of War

Two Medals of Honor. Sixteen citations. The Navy Cross. Across the hymns of valor, Daly’s reputation grew less for the medals than for the scars he carried—and bore silently. “He never bragged. Told us the fight was not for glory, but for the man next to you,” a Marine recalled.[1]

His leadership was raw, tested by blood and sacrifice. When asked about courage, Daly said:

“You don’t fire unless fired upon, but when you do, make damn sure they’re sorry for it.”

Such words weren’t empty bravado—they were lived truth. Like the two-time Medal of Honor winner Smedley Butler, Daly's example forces a hard look at what leadership in combat truly means: sacrifice soaked in humility.

Legacy etched in Iron and Flesh

Daly’s story is not just about valor but the relentless human struggle beneath it. The silent self-sacrifice of the warrior—the man who faces death without exalting it, who endures the agony so others might live and hope.

He died in 1937, worn by years of combat and hardship, but never broken. His life reverberates in every Marine who hears the call to stand and not falter. Warriors remember what he said as much as what he did.

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

Sgt. Major Daniel J. Daly’s legacy is not contained in medals or tales. It lives where courage meets faith, where sacrifice becomes purpose, and where the scars of battle become commandments for the soul.

Sources

1. Naval History and Heritage Command, Medal of Honor Recipients — United States Marines 2. U.S. Army Center of Military History, Medal of Honor Citations: Daniel J. Daly 3. Gordon Rottman, U.S. Marine Corps World War I 1917-1919 (Osprey Publishing, 2008) 4. David F. Trask, The War with Spain in 1898 (University of Nebraska Press)