Daniel Joseph Daly, Marine Awarded Two Medals of Honor

Dec 19 , 2025

Daniel Joseph Daly, Marine Awarded Two Medals of Honor

They called him “Old Gimlet Eye” — a Marine who stared down death like it owed him money. In the mud-choked trenches of Belleau Wood and the burning streets of Tientsin, Sgt. Maj. Daniel Joseph Daly was the blade between order and chaos. Two Medals of Honor, earned decades apart, make his name a raw legend etched in Marine Corps iron and fire. This isn’t a story of luck or chance. This is grit forged in combat, sacrifice carved in steel nerve.

Blood and Baptism: A Code Born in Brooklyn

Born in 1873, Daniel Daly grew up in the grit of Brooklyn’s streets, where soft was swallowed fast. His faith was as real as his fists—a quiet, hard-won conviction, not posturing. Raised Catholic, Daly embraced a warrior’s prayer, seeking strength not for glory, but for the men beside him.

More than a soldier, he was a shepherd of souls on the battlefield. His faith gave him unshakable purpose. It was this fire that drove him to embody the ultimate Marine code—never leave a man behind, never give up.

The Boxer Rebellion: Holding the Line at Tientsin

In 1900, with the Boxer Rebellion burning China, Daly’s Marines found themselves trapped near Tientsin. The foreign legations were under siege. The enemy swarmed like a tide of steel and fire.

On June 20, Daly saw the enemy clawing through the barricades. Without hesitation, he grabbed a rifle and blasted forward alone under heavy fire. His Medal of Honor citation reads: “In the presence of the enemy, in the city of Tientsin, China, June 20 and July 4, 1900, distinguished himself by his courage and coolness.” He led attacks that broke enemy lines, each shot a statement—“I am here. You don’t get this ground.” Serving with the 1st Marine Regiment, his gallantry was pure and brutal; the young empire Marines needed blood and courage alike, and Daly gave both¹.

No dramatics—just a Marine standing his post with teeth clenched and ‘Old Gimlet Eye’ fixed on death itself.

Hell in France: Belleau Wood’s Iron Will

World War I dragged Daly into the worst bloodbath of his life. April 24, 1918, Belleau Wood—the wood ran red with Marine blood, and Daly was in the thick of it.

During relentless German assaults, when his machine gun section faltered, Daly single-handedly charged a machine gun nest that was shredding his men. With rifle and pistol in hand, he killed six enemy soldiers and captured three prisoners. His second Medal of Honor citation paints a picture of raw, desperate courage: “When his machine gun section was practically wiped out by hostile fire, Sgt. Major Daly unhesitatingly went forward alone and killed six of the enemy.” The Marines of 5th Regiment, 2nd Division, USMC needed a lifeline. Daly was it².

His grit wasn’t just in shooting enemies—it was the ferocity, the unwillingness to quit so his brothers could live. Captain Lloyd W. Williams, whose dying words echo through Marine lore, might have seen men like Daly as the steel backbone of Marine legend.

Honors Worn Like Battle Scars

Two Medals of Honor. Not many earn one—fewer still two. Daly carried the first from China, the second from France. He rose to Sergeant Major, becoming a legend within Marine Corps history.

The Marine Corps Gazette lauded him as “one of the greatest Marines in Corps history.” His leadership was less about orders and more about living proof—the man who went first, never looking back. Fellow Marines called him “Old Man,” a nickname earned not by age alone but by endurance and unbreakable will.

Endurance, Redemption, and the Quiet Legacy

Daly’s story isn’t just about killing enemies; it’s about the scars you bear after the last shot fires and the purpose you hold when silence fills the battlefield. He fought in two wars, in two continents, with a heart welded to faith and iron.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” — Deuteronomy 31:6

His legacy whispers a brutal truth: courage is forged in fear, but lives beyond it. Sacrifice carries a price paid in blood and sweat, but redemption hides in the hands that help the fallen stand again.

When the world forgets the battlefield’s cost, remember Daniel Joseph Daly. A Marine who lived combat not as a spectacle, but as a sacred duty, a testimony to those who bear the scars of war in body, soul, and honor.

In his scars lies the unspoken prayer of every veteran—battle may end, but honor endures. And in that enduring honor, we find the bridge from violence to redemption.

Sources

1. U.S. Army Center of Military History, Medal of Honor citations, Boxer Rebellion 2. Marine Corps History Division, Medal of Honor citations, Belleau Wood and WWI records