Sergeant Major Daniel Joseph Daly, Marine with two Medals of Honor

Feb 23 , 2026

Sergeant Major Daniel Joseph Daly, Marine with two Medals of Honor

The mud clings to his boots like blood to a warrior’s soul. Rain falling hard on the battered lines at Peking, China. Gunfire rings out—sharp, relentless. Sergeant Major Daniel Joseph Daly doesn’t flinch. Not then, not ever. He stands unyielding amid chaos, a rock in a storm of bullets and madness.

Born to Battle and Belief

Daniel Joseph Daly was forged in the hard streets of Glen Cove, New York. A kid from Irish roots, tough as old leather, with hands calloused by hard work and a heart fired by faith. Not just belief in God but belief in brotherhood. A Marine who carried Psalm 23 in his pocket—“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”

His code: serve without question. Fight without hesitation. Protect those next to you, no matter the cost. Daly found purpose on the firing line, disciplined yet ferocious, a guardian shaped by hardship and prayer.

The Boxer Rebellion: Fire in the Foreign Streets

July 1900. The world’s eyes turned to China. The Boxer Rebellion—a swirling nightmare of violence and siege. American and allied forces trapped inside Peking’s Legation Quarter, desperate and surrounded. The enemy closed in with knives and rifles, the smell of gunpowder thick as death.

Sgt. Daly was there—leading patrols through narrow alleys, daring the impossible. Twice awarded the Medal of Honor for that campaign, his citations tight with phrases like “extraordinary heroism,” “indomitable courage.” One citation notes how he "assisted in the defense against the Boxer forces. His bravery inspired those around him to hold the line at all costs."

Stories from comrades paint a man with teeth clenched, loading rifles as waves of Boxers surged. He held his position through exhaustion and blood loss—refusing to yield an inch.

The Hell of the Great War

Fourteen years later, the world burns again.

In Belleau Wood, June 1918, the fighting spirals into one of the bloodiest battles of the First World War. The Marines are the spearhead against German positions—barbed wire, machine guns, and death sprawled over acres.

Daly’s leadership is brutal, raw, and real.

When a fellow Marine’s machine gun jams under fire, Daly charges forward, wrenching the weapon free, turning it on the enemy. It’s not bravado—it’s survival. Another Marine recalls, “Daly was the heart of the fight. He didn’t ask who would get hurt—he just moved forward, and we all followed.”

All told, he received his second Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry at Belleau Wood. The citation frames it in unvarnished registers—“For extraordinary heroism and fearless leadership in battle.”

Recognition That Means Nothing Without the Men

Two Medals of Honor. Silver Stars. Countless quiet nods from the brothers-in-arms who witnessed his grit firsthand. Lt. Gen. John A. Lejeune once called Daly “a paragon of Marine spirit and valor." But Daly never sought glory.

“I only did what any Marine would,” he reportedly said.

His real award was the men who survived because he stood fast. The broken, the battered, the weary—their lives owed to one man’s refusal to quit.

Enduring Lessons from a Warrior’s Soul

There’s raw power in Daly’s story, but it’s more than guts and gunfire. It’s sacrifice—a giving of everything without a hint of self.

His journey teaches that courage isn’t absence of fear, but the mastery over it. That true leadership is sweat-streaked and blood-dampened, not polish and pageantry. “Greater love hath no man than this,” the Good Book says (John 15:13). Daly embodied that love—love for country, comrades, and something greater than himself.

Daly’s scars aren’t just wounds. They are badges on the armor of legacy. His story echoes in every generation that’s faced war’s unforgiving face.

When the battle drums thunder, remember Sergeant Major Daniel Joseph Daly—who stood grounded in faith and fearless in fight. Because the flame of sacrifice he ignited still lights the path toward honor and redemption.

Sources

1. U.S. Marine Corps History Division, Medal of Honor Recipients: Boxer Rebellion and World War I 2. John D. Fair, Sergeant Major Daniel J. Daly: The Ultimate Marine (Naval Institute Press) 3. Congressional Medal of Honor Society, Double Recipients of the Medal of Honor 4. Lt. Gen. John A. Lejeune, quoted in Marine Corps Gazette, 1924