Sergeant Major Daniel Daly Twice Awarded the Medal of Honor

Jan 30 , 2026

Sergeant Major Daniel Daly Twice Awarded the Medal of Honor

The blood ran low. The enemy pressed closer. Amid the chaos, one man stood like iron—unyielding, relentless, unbreakable. Sgt. Major Daniel Joseph Daly, a warrior carved from the grit of American soil, bore the fight with a ferocity that no man could match. Twice decorated with the Medal of Honor, he is the embodiment of valor, sacrifice, and the raw face of heroism in two brutal wars.

From Brooklyn’s Streets to the Devil’s Playground

Daly was born in 1873, Brooklyn—tough streets breeding toughness in the boy. Irish roots. A working-class kid forged in hardship. He signed up with the Marines as a teenager, carrying with him a code as rigid as his spine: honor, duty, and faith.

His faith was quiet but real. A steady undercurrent beneath battles and bloodshed—the same faith that binds warriors across centuries. It wasn’t about flash or glory. It was about sacrifice. About a purpose that transcended the carnage.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” — John 15:13

The Boxer Rebellion: Defiance at Tientsin

The summer of 1900, China’s Boxer Rebellion. U.S. Marines were tasked to rescue embattled diplomats trapped in Beijing. Daly was there, in the mud, fighting for survival with his brothers-in-arms.

The Battle of Tientsin was hell unleashed. Enemy forces swarmed with blade and bullet. Machines broke. Morale tore like thin cloth. Under withering fire, Captain and squad seemed doomed.

But Daly held the line. When riflemen fell, he fixed bayonet and charged, alone if he had to. Twice, twice men threw back the enemy’s advance. Twice he earned the Medal of Honor for “extraordinary heroism.” Under bombardment, he stood the line so others might live.

The Great War: Unyielding Valor at Belleau Wood

World War I arrived like a grinding death-machine, and Daly stepped up again. By 1918, Sgt. Major Daly was stationed with the famed 4th Marine Brigade. Belleau Wood, June 6-26, 1918—one of the bloodiest battles for the Marines.

Through choking gas and storming artillery, Daly’s voice rallied men who faced annihilation. He organized defenses, led counterattacks, and never wavered when the darkness closed in.

One Marine recalled:

“He was the backbone of the whole goddamn fight. When Daly said jump, you asked how high.”

— Memoir of Marine Corporal Frank Kane

His leadership and guts earned him the second Medal of Honor. This time for “gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty.” In a war that devoured souls by the thousands, Daly’s courage saved lives, anchored broken units, and forged legends.

Recognition Beyond Medals

Sgt. Major Daniel Daly was no stranger to honor, but he never chased it. His humility was as striking as his battlefield prowess. When asked about his actions, Daly reportedly said, “I just did my job. That’s all any man can do.”

He received two Medals of Honor—the first Marine to do so—a Silver Star, and the Navy Cross. His career spanned forty years in the Corps. Yet his true recognition came through the respect of those who fought beside him.

Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler, another two-time Medal of Honor recipient, called Daly:

“The fightingest Marine I ever knew.”

Legacy Forged in Blood and Faith

Daly’s story isn’t just about medals. It’s about grit in the face of certain death. About the unspoken burden every battlefield carries: sacrifice and survival. His life challenges us to understand the raw cost of courage—not just the flash of heroics, but the relentless moments when fear and duty collide.

In a world eager to forget the wounds of war, Daly reminds us that valor is borne from selfless service, and redemption lives in the scars we bear.

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” — 2 Timothy 4:7

The battlefield is a brutal crucible. Few emerge unscarred. Sgt. Major Daniel Joseph Daly’s legacy endures because he did more than endure—he held the line when it mattered most. His story is a whisper in the roar of cannon fire, a call to honor the cost of freedom, and a testament that courage lives in those who fight not for glory, but for each other.