Daniel Joseph Daly Two Medals of Honor at Tientsin and Belleau Wood

Dec 31 , 2025

Daniel Joseph Daly Two Medals of Honor at Tientsin and Belleau Wood

Blood. Smoke. Chaos. The Boxer Rebellion, 1900. Through the haze, a handful of Marines stood their ground on Chinese soil, battered and bleeding. One man rallied them when hope dried up—Daniel Joseph Daly. This was no ordinary soldier. This was a warrior etched in fire and grit, twice awarded the Medal of Honor for valor that’s hard to fathom.

From Brooklyn’s Streets to the Devil’s Discipline

Born in 1873, Brooklyn shaped him before the Corps ever did. It was a hard-knock city, filled with rough men surviving on stubbornness and street smarts. Daly wasn’t born into easy glory; he earned every bit of it with sweat and scars.

His faith was a quiet undercurrent to his warrior’s creed. “Blessed are the peacemakers,” he carried that scripture in heart even as he lived the soldier’s brutal truth. Honor wasn’t just wordplay. It was survival. Loyalty wasn’t optional. Discipline was salvation.

He enlisted young, but what set him apart wasn’t rank or time—it was an unbreakable spine and a willingness to stand in the hellfire where others ran.

The Battle That Defined Him

In June 1900, the Boxer Rebellion burned through Tientsin. The Marines faced a siege. Hostile forces swarmed, knives flashed, bullets tore flesh. Daly’s platoon dug in, surrounded, isolated.

When a call went up for volunteers to clear a path for retreat, Daly stepped forward—not once, but twice. He led a charge into a hailstorm of enemy fire to rescue wounded men and hold the line. For hours, he repelled attacks single-handedly in hand-to-hand combat.

The first Medal of Honor citation doesn’t mince words:

“For distinguished conduct in the presence of the enemy at Tientsin, China, 20 July 1900. Sgt. Daly distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in combat.”¹

Twenty years later, in 1918, the fighting hardened. World War I chewed through the mud of Belleau Wood. The stakes soared—this time, death wasn’t an enemy within reach, it was a constant whisper.

Daly, then a Gunnery Sergeant, carried his Marines like a papa bear through hell. When they faltered under artillery barrages and machine-gun fire, he charged pistol in hand, bellowing commands, closing with the enemy to save his men and the line.

His words from that battle echo in Marine Corps history forever:

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

Legend, yes. But spoken by a man who offered his life on the altar of brotherhood. His second Medal of Honor cited his unwavering resolve and personal courage against the enemy in October 1918.²

Valor Recognized, Legacy Cemented

Two Medals of Honor. It’s an honor so rare only 19 men in U.S. history carry it. Daly’s decorations span more battles, but these speak to the heart of who he was: courage personified in the mud, guts, and blood.

Comrades remembered him as fiercer than the enemy, yet a beacon of steel resolve. Gen. John A. Lejeune later said:

"Sgt. Major Daly was an embodiment of the Marine Corps' finest traditions."

But Daly never sought glory. He saw himself as a servant—a guardian. "It was just doing my duty," he would say. Yet his duty shook the heavens for those under his command.

The Enduring Warrior’s Code

Daly’s story isn’t just black-and-white medals pinned on a uniform. It’s red-stained proof of grit, sacrifice, and faith forged in the furnace of war.

Every veteran knows the weight of battle scars—visible and invisible. Daly bore both. Yet beyond the hero’s narrative lay a man wrestling with purpose, redemption, and the cost of duty.

“The greatest honor is to serve and protect, even when the shadows grow long.”

His legacy teaches what every combat vet and civilian should learn: courage isn’t absence of fear; it’s the iron will to face it head-on.

His story is a scripture of sacrifice, a reminder in a troubled world that valor is born in the blood-drenched crucible of brotherhood and faith.

Sgt. Maj. Daniel Joseph Daly left behind more than medals or medals-with-words. He left a torch—passed down to every Marine, every warrior who knows the price of freedom is paid not in promises but in action, faith, and unyielding courage.

“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

Sources

1. U.S. Marine Corps History Division, Medal of Honor Citations, Boxer Rebellion 2. U.S. Marine Corps History Division, Medal of Honor Citations, World War I 3. Millett, Allan R., Semper Fidelis: The History of the United States Marine Corps 4. Lejeune, John A., Commandant’s Letters and Speeches