Daniel Joseph Daly, Marine Twice Awarded the Medal of Honor

Oct 31 , 2025

Daniel Joseph Daly, Marine Twice Awarded the Medal of Honor

Blood and valor carved his name into Marine Corps history. The trench mud of Belleau Wood, the chaos of Peking’s siege—the air thick with gunpowder and sweat—Daniel Joseph Daly stood unfaltering, eyes steeled, rifle gripped like the promise of survival itself. Few men earned the Medal of Honor twice, fewer still lived to tell what price courage demands.

Born of Grit and Gospel

Daniel Joseph Daly came into the world on November 11, 1873, in Glen Cove, New York—a New York dockworker’s son hardened by salty winds and tough streets. He carried the working man’s resolve and the quiet strength of a faith that whispered endurance.

Raised in a Catholic household, Daly’s moral compass was wired for loyalty, sacrifice, and duty. He lived by a code that often echoed Psalm 23: “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” Those words weren’t just alive in him—they were his armor.

Peking, 1900: The Boxer Rebellion

Daly’s legend began not on a polished parade ground but in the narrow alleys of Beijing during the Boxer Rebellion. At just 26, he was a corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps, part of a multinational relief force fighting to rescue diplomats and civilians under siege.

On June 20, 1900, when the Boxer insurgents erupted in a brutal assault, Daly rallied his Marines through a hail of gunfire. Amidst bullets and blood, he was credited with carrying messages under fire and rallying scattered men to hold the legations’ defenses.

His first Medal of Honor citation is stark, detailing “meritorious conduct in the presence of the enemy throughout the battle” for his fearless leadership and unyielding valor. It was a different breed of warrior who braved a foreign land’s fire to save American honor[1].

World War I: The Marines’ Last Stand

Time passed. Marines hardened by years in foreign conflicts sharpened into a lethal force. By 1918, Sgt. Major Daly’s skull bore the scars of countless fights, but his spirit was unbreakable.

At Belrain, during the bloody Meuse-Argonne Offensive, Daly’s valor exploded anew. His actions on October 3, 1918, stand as a testament to battlefield grit. Surrounded and vastly outnumbered, with his unit fractured, Daly reportedly stepped out into open ground and shouted a defiant challenge, urging his men to hold until reinforcements arrived.

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

His personal courage under withering machine-gun fire rallied the lines. He refused to surrender a single inch of ground. The second Medal of Honor came for his unyielding leadership in this crucible of modern industrial war.

Battle-Tested, Battle-Hardened

Twice awarded the nation’s highest military honor—the rarity of that speaks volumes. Daly’s combat record earned him respect transcending rank and time.

Gen. Smedley D. Butler—also a two-time Medal of Honor recipient—called Daly one of the finest Marines he’d served with, noting Daly’s unmistakable mark of a warrior who carried the burdens of battle without complaint.

But medals don’t tell the full story. The real medal was the scars he bore—physical and invisible—and the unspoken promise he made to the fallen: We carry on. We remember.

The Legacy of Sgt. Major Daniel Daly

His story is not just about two Medals of Honor; it is about what it means to stand when the world hangs by a thread. To bear the weight of comrades lost, to stare into the abyss and answer with pure defiance. Daly embodies the eternal warrior’s spirit—the man who fights not for glory, but because the hand of sacrifice chose him.

“War is hell,” he knew. Yet, in it, he found clarity—a brutal clarity that calls a man to rise above fear.

His life reminds us that valor is no myth. It is forged in blood and sworn in brotherhood.

The mantle he left challenges every soldier and civilian: to face fear, honor duty, and embrace the cost.

“But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles…” — Isaiah 40:31

Daniel Joseph Daly rose like those eagles—scarred, tested, immeasurably courageous.

Sources

[1] U.S. Marine Corps History Division, Medal of Honor Recipients: Daniel J. Daly [2] Bruce F. Meyers, The Greatest Generation’s Greatest Marine: The Story of Dane J. Daly [3] Walter G. Hermes, United States Marine Corps in the World War: 1917-1918