Daniel Daly

The Two-Time Medal of Honor Marine Who Became a Legend Some Marines are remembered for a single extraordinary moment. Daniel Joseph Daly built a career out of them. From standing alone under enemy fire during the Boxer Rebellion, to fighting overwhelming odds in Haiti, to charging a German machine-gun position in France, Daly became one of the most celebrated enlisted Marines in United States history. He remains especially distinguished as the only enlisted U.S. Marine to receive the Medal of Honor twice for two separate acts of gallantry.

Daniel Joseph Daly was born on 11 November 1873 in Glen Cove, Long Island, New York. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on 10 January 1899 and soon found himself deployed to China during the Boxer Rebellion. His first great test came during the defense of the foreign legations at Peking in 1900. While serving as a private, Daly volunteered to remain on the Tartar Wall while an officer returned for workers and reinforcements. Alone and exposed to hostile fire, he held the position until help arrived. The official Medal of Honor citation was remarkably brief, stating that in the presence of the enemy during the Battle of Peking on 14 August 1900, Daly had distinguished himself through meritorious conduct. Naval historical research provides the fuller story behind those restrained words, describing how he remained alone on the wall under sustained enemy fire. Naval History and Heritage Command For most Marines, one Medal of Honor would have defined an entire career.

By 1915 he was a Gunnery Sergeant serving with the 15th Company of Marines in Haiti. During a reconnaissance from Fort Liberté, his mounted detachment was ambushed after dark on 24 October by roughly 400 Cacos firing from three directions. The Marines fought their way into a defensible position and endured continuous fire through the night. At daylight they divided into three groups and advanced against the attackers. Daly's second Medal of Honor citation records that he fought with "exceptional gallantry against heavy odds" throughout the action. His conduct during that engagement made him one of the extremely small number of American servicemen ever to receive two Medals of Honor for separate acts of heroism.

Daly's combat career was far from over. His Marine service also took him through the Philippines, Mexico, the Caribbean and the Dominican Republic before the United States entered the First World War. By 1917, already a veteran of nearly two decades of service, he went to France with the 6th Regiment of Marines, 2nd Division, American Expeditionary Forces. There, the older Marine once again proved that his reputation had not been built on stories from the past. He participated in operations connected with the Aisne, Château-Thierry and Belleau Wood fighting, St. Mihiel, Blanc Mont and the Meuse-Argonne period, and he was wounded twice during his wartime service.

The fighting around Lucy-le-Bocage and Bouresches in June 1918 produced another extraordinary series of actions. On 5 June, Daly risked his life to extinguish a fire in an ammunition dump before it could cause a catastrophic explosion. On 7 June, while his position was under violent bombardment, he moved among widely separated gun crews to encourage his Marines. Then, on 10 June, he attacked a German machine-gun position alone, overcoming it with hand grenades and his automatic pistol. Later that same day, during a German attack on Bouresches, Daly went into the fire to bring wounded men to safety.

Those actions brought Daly both the Navy Cross and the Distinguished Service Cross. Their citations recount essentially the same remarkable sequence of heroism: extinguishing the ammunition fire at great personal risk, moving between gun crews under bombardment to steady his men, attacking an enemy machine-gun emplacement without assistance, and rescuing wounded Marines while under fire. The Distinguished Service Cross citation formally recognized his "repeated deeds of heroism and great service" with the 73rd Company, 6th Marines.

Daly received another formal recognition for gallantry during the Château-Thierry fighting. The Citation Star, worn as a silver star on his World War I Victory Medal ribbon, cited him for gallantry in action while serving with the Machine Gun Company, 6th Marines, in the Château-Thierry sector from 6 June to 10 July 1918. His Victory Medal also reflected participation in major campaigns including Aisne, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne and a Defensive Sector.

France also honored Daly's courage. The French government awarded him the Médaille militaire and the Croix de Guerre with Palm, and he was entitled to the French Fourragère associated with his unit's distinguished combat service. These foreign honors added further recognition to an already exceptional American record.

What made Daly remarkable, however, was not simply the number of awards he accumulated. His career stretched from imperial China to the trenches and forests of France. He served in the China Relief Expedition, the Philippines, expeditionary operations, Mexico, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and World War I. Following the Armistice, he also served with the American occupation forces in Germany. His record therefore represents more than isolated episodes of heroism. It traces almost an entire generation of Marine Corps expeditionary warfare.

Daly remained closely associated with the Marine Corps long after the battles that made his name. He transferred to the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve in 1919, later returned to active service, and was ultimately retired on 6 February 1929, advanced to the rank of Sergeant Major. He died on 27 April 1937. Naval historical records later described him as the "fightingest man ever to serve with the Marine Corps," an assessment that reflected a career extending from the Boxer Rebellion to the Western Front.

Daniel Daly's legacy is difficult to reduce to medals alone. He was a Marine who earned the Medal of Honor in China, earned it again in Haiti, and then entered another war years later and performed a series of actions worthy of both the Navy Cross and Distinguished Service Cross. His official citations repeatedly return to the same qualities: courage under direct enemy fire, willingness to act alone when necessary, concern for the Marines around him, and extraordinary steadiness when the situation was at its worst.

Sergeant Major Daniel Joseph Daly did not become a Marine Corps legend because of one famous battle. He became one because, across twenty years of dangerous service, when the moment demanded someone move toward the danger, Daly repeatedly did exactly that.