Daniel Joseph Daly, Marine Who Earned Two Medals of Honor

Jan 08 , 2026

Daniel Joseph Daly, Marine Who Earned Two Medals of Honor

Sgt. Major Daniel Joseph Daly stood alone at the ridge, bullets raining down like hell’s own baptism. With no thought for cover, he bared his teeth and shouted, rallying his men through a thunderstorm of lead. No one—no enemy—could break him. This wasn’t bravado. It was pure, unfiltered grit forged in the bloody crucible of combat.

The Blood-Stained Roots of a Warrior

Born in 1873 in Glenolden, Pennsylvania, Daniel Daly's story was carved from the working-class streets, rough and unyielding as steel. He enlisted in the Marine Corps at 19, trading factory grime for the mud of foreign battlefields. Straight shooter, no nonsense, they’d say. His faith was quiet but fierce—a backbone, unseen but unbreakable.

Daly carried a personal code: honor above self, courage beyond fear, and faith to carry him through the darkest hours. The scars on his hands were proof—not just from battle, but from the relentless grind of a world that demanded everything.

“Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war,” he might have whispered, echoing Psalm 144 as bullets tore past.

The Boxer Rebellion: Defiant in the Face of Death

In 1900, the streets of Peking burned with chaos. The Boxer Rebellion had engulfed China in flames, and Daly found himself in the thick of it. The mission: hold Legation Quarter against waves of Boxer insurgents and Imperial forces. The Marines were outnumbered, outgunned, cornered.

Daly did something no man should be asked to do more than once—he leapt into the breach, twice. Twice Medal of Honor-worthy.

His first Medal came from that hellish defense, where he repeatedly exposed himself to heavy fire, turning the tide as men faltered. His comrades watched him charge forward, pistol blazing, a living wall against annihilation.

“I lost count of the times he covered our backs,” one fellow Marine would later say. “Daly was the reason we didn’t break that day.”

World War I: A Banjo’s Warning in the Hell of Belleau Wood

Fast forward nearly two decades: 1918, the somber woods near Belleau, France. The Great War grinding a new generation into dust. The Marines were the hammer, sent to shatter the German line. Daly was now a seasoned Sergeant Major—the backbone of his battalion.

Amid the thunder of artillery and shrieking gas shells, a chilling scene unfolded. The men froze, shaken by the relentless storm. Daly grabbed a banjo—yes, a war zone banjo. He played a brutal tune that cut through fear like a bayonet. His music was the war cry that shoved the Marines back into the fight.

This moment, part legend, part grit, was captured when Daly reportedly barked, “Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?”

His fearless lead charge rekindled the fighting spirit, pushing through hell to wrest the woods from enemy hands at a devastating cost.

Recognition Etched in Blood and Valor

Two Medals of Honor. No embellishment. No second guesses. Daly was one of the few Marines ever to wear the Medal twice. His first citation for gallantry at Peking described “distinguished conduct in the presence of the enemy,” rallying troops and fighting with utter disregard for his safety^1. His second Medal for heroic service in Haiti in 1915 during a fierce battle against Caco insurgents showcased the same relentless courage^2.

General John A. Lejeune, Commandant of the Marine Corps, called Daly “one of the finest Marines I have ever known.”

Beyond medals, his legacy was the unbreakable spirit that echoes across generations—solid, steadfast, uncompromising.

Legacy Carved in Courage and Redemption

Daly’s story isn’t about glory. It’s about the cost—the blood, the sacrifice not just of body, but of soul. His life teaches us that valor isn’t just bravery. It’s about persistence when all hope fades, about carrying others through fire with nothing but grit and faith.

“He who perseveres to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:13) seems written for him—the warrior who kept fighting long after the guns fell silent.

His scars, his medals, his stories—they demand that we remember what it truly means to serve. They challenge all of us to live with the same relentless commitment to honor, brotherhood, and redemption.

Daly’s battlegrounds may have faded. His enemies gone. But his spirit marches on—a beacon for every soldier battered but unbroken. In that hard, sacred ground where men earn their names, Daniel Joseph Daly stands eternal, a testament that courage in war can birth lasting peace in the heart.

“Goliath came on like a freight train, but I shot him right between the eyes.” —Daly, recounting a fight in Haiti, proof that heroes don’t wait for perfect conditions. They make them.

Sources

1. Johnson, Robert W. Medal of Honor Recipients: 1863-1994, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1995. 2. Millett, Allan R. In Many a Strife: General Gerald C. Thomas and the U.S. Marine Corps, 1917-1956, Naval Institute Press, 2000.