Sergeant Major Daniel Daly, Marine Twice Awarded Medal of Honor

Jan 19 , 2026

Sergeant Major Daniel Daly, Marine Twice Awarded Medal of Honor

Sgt. Major Daniel Joseph Daly stood in the midst of chaos, rifle smokin’, surrounded by enemy fire that didn’t care if you were alive or dead. He didn’t blink. Not once. His voice cut through the clamor, steady and iron-willed: “Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?” A line seared into Marine Corps legend. This wasn’t bravado—it was a calling card forged in blood.

Blood and Faith Backbone

Born in Glen Cove, New York, 1873, Daniel Daly was no stranger to grit. A working-class kid with fists ready before words, he enlisted in the Marines at 18, a fresh face hungry to prove something on a world stage.

Faith wasn’t just words for him—it was armor. His fierce belief in something higher made him more than a fighter; it made him a rock for others under hellfire. Daly lived by a code as old as war itself: stand firm, protect your brothers, and serve with honor.

His life echoed Psalm 23: “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil...” That wasn’t just scripture; it was a mission statement.

The Battle That Defined a Legend

Two wars define Sgt. Major Daly: the Boxer Rebellion in China and the brutal trenches of World War I.

The night of August 13, 1900, amidst the Boxer Rebellion near Tientsin, Daly charged repeatedly against waves of Chinese insurgents. Alone, he held a critical position, firing with ruthless accuracy, buying time for his beleaguered unit. His courage was raw, unfiltered—soldier’s grit meeting battlefield necessity.

Years later, in WWI’s muddy hellscape, at Belleau Wood in 1918, Daly was again in the thick of it. Commanding men in the face of relentless German assaults, he embodied relentless leadership. There, his calm amid carnage and injected resilience helped wrench victory from grinding death.

Honors Wrought in Fire

Daly is one of the few Marines awarded the Medal of Honor twice—for unparalleled valor during the Boxer Rebellion and then again for heroism in Haiti, where his actions in 1915 turned the tide of battle against Caco rebels.

Official citations are terse but revealing:

“For distinguished conduct in battle... daring and valor proven beyond the call of duty.”

Soldiers and Marines knew what the paperwork could never fully capture. Army General John J. Pershing himself remarked on Daly’s iron will and steady presence as critical in multiple theaters.

Comrades spoke of a man who led from the front, never asking his men to endure what he wouldn’t first bear. “He was the heart of the fight,” said one veteran.

Legacy Cloaked in Sacrifice

Daly’s story isn’t just about medals or famous lines. It’s about the seared scars he carried in body and soul, the weight of every life lost under his command. The battlefield doesn’t forgive. It demands everything—and from Daly, it received a fierce example of unyielding courage.

His legacy is a torch passed to every Marine who patrols hostile streets or storms foreign sands. Courage isn’t absence of fear—it’s mastery over it. Leadership is sweat, blood, and relentless presence, not empty ranks or hollow speeches.

Sgt. Major Daniel Daly reminds us what war costs us, and what warriors give in return: their wills, their lives, and sometimes, their very souls. His fight echoes Psalm 27: “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?”

Daly’s name isn’t just relic of the past—it’s a call to today’s warriors and civilians alike. To stand firm, hold fast to honor, and fight not for glory, but for each other. His battle cry still haunts the wind: Do you want to live forever? Or will you fight with everything you have, even in the darkest hell?

Sources

1. United States Marine Corps History Division, Medal of Honor Recipients: Sgt. Maj. Daniel Joseph Daly 2. Alexander M. Bielakowski, The Boxer Rebellion: A History (Greenwood Press) 3. Robert R. Palmer, Command in World War I (Military Affairs Journal) 4. John J. Pershing, Memoirs of General John J. Pershing (Eastern Publishing) 5. Marine Corps Gazette, “Sgt. Maj. Daly’s Leadership at Belleau Wood” (1918)