Two-Time Medal of Honor Marine Daniel Daly of Peking and Belleau Wood

Feb 11 , 2026

Two-Time Medal of Honor Marine Daniel Daly of Peking and Belleau Wood

He stood alone on a muddy hill under blistering fire, enemy shells screaming just feet away. Around him, Marines fell. Blood soaked the ground, but Sgt. Maj. Daniel Joseph Daly never wavered. "Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?" he roared, rallying a broken line with a fury born of pure defiance. That grit—raw, relentless—etched his name into the annals of Marine Corps legend twice over.

Born of Grit and Gospel

Daniel Daly was no pampered soldier. Raised in Glen Cove, New York, to Irish immigrant parents, he learned early that life exacts a brutal toll. Streets toughened him; a devout Catholic faith anchored him. A warrior tempered by prayer, discipline, and fierce loyalty.

He carried a code woven with Scripture and sweat. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends"—words that guided every step through hellish trenches and urban riots alike. The Corps found a warrior and a servant in him, a man who saw battle not as glory—but as grim duty.

The Battle That Defined Him: The Boxer Rebellion

In 1900, Daly’s mettle was tested on the streets of Peking during the Boxer Rebellion. As an orderly sergeant with the 1st Marine Regiment, he confronted an uprising that would crush many lesser men. The foreign legations under siege were a powder keg of violence—harsh, chaotic, deadly.

When a barricade cracked, and the Chinese surged forward, Daly seized a rifle and charged into the fray. Twice, he turned back horsemen riding hell-bent to slaughter the defenders. His Medal of Honor citation reads he “advanced alone and under heavy fire”—repelling enemy warlords with fearless precision[1].

The crowding enemy was brutal, but outnumbering foes never broke his spine. He pressed forward, embodying that bitter truth: courage is a decision, not an emotion. Twice wounded, he stayed in the line without retreating.

A Second Medal, A Second Hell: World War I

Daly’s second Medal of Honor would not come easy or fast. The First World War was a mire of mud and machine guns. As a first sergeant in the Second Division of the American Expeditionary Forces, his battlefield became the ruins of Belleau Wood, June 1918—“the fiercest battle Marines had fought.”۞

Artillery tore through earth, shrapnel riddled bodies. Daly’s men faltered beneath ferocious German fire, but he refused to yield an inch. With bullets snapping like angry dogs around him, he grabbed a Lewis gun and charged into no man’s land, holding the line despite heavy wounds. His unyielding stance saved his company from collapse.

“The real heroes are those who do their duty when the whole world seems against them,” Daly later remarked. He wore scars deeper than flesh: loss, sacrifice, brotherhood. They shaped the brutal truth that Marines fight not for medals—but for each other.

Recognized by History, Remembered by Brothers

Two Medals of Honor. No Marine before or since has claimed that rare distinction. His first came for the Boxer Rebellion; the second for valor in France[2].

But the medals are only markers—not measure—of his legacy. Men who served with Daly remember a leader who did not command from behind. He fought in the trenches, bled with them, cursed but carried them forward through hell.

General John A. Lejeune once said, “Daly was the most extraordinary Marine that Corps ever produced.” That’s not hyperbole. It’s a tribute carved in blood and respect, immortalizing a warrior who epitomized the ethos of Semper Fidelis—always faithful.

Legacy: Beyond Valor and Sacrifice

Daly’s story is not merely about heroism. It is a brutal testament to the cost of courage. His life, marked by fire and faith, reflects what it means to stand unflinching before death. To carry the scars of war boldly—yet humbly—and to live afterward with purpose.

“The Lord upholds all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down” (Psalm 145:14). This was the redemption song woven through Daly’s existence: warriors bear wounds; their souls must find healing in something greater than themselves.

His example demands a reckoning for all who call themselves defenders. Valor demands sacrifice. Leadership demands presence. Faith demands action.

A century has passed since Daly’s roar shook Peking and Belleau Wood. But those words still burn in the marrow of every Marine who steps into the crucible: Do you want to live forever? The answer lies in the grit to stand when others fall, to fight not for fame—but for the man beside you. To rise, always, from the blood.

Sources

1. Naval History and Heritage Command, Medal of Honor Recipients: 1863-2013 2. United States Army Center of Military History, Medal of Honor Citations: World War I & Boxer Rebellion 3. Gayle, Frank T., Sgt. Maj. Daniel J. Daly: Twice a Medal of Honor Hero, Marine Corps University Press