Daniel Daly

Daniel Joseph Daly (November 11, 1873 – April 27, 1937) was a United States Marine and one of nineteen U.S. servicemen to have been awarded the Medal of Honor twice. Daly and Major General Smedley Butler are the only Marines who earned two Medals of Honor for two separate acts of valor.

Daly is among the most decorated U.S. Marines in history, and over a thirty year career saw action in all the major Marine Corps campaigns from 1899 to the end of World War I. He earned his first Medal of Honor during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 and the second in Haiti in 1915. Butler described Daly as "the fightingest Marine I ever knew...It was an object lesson to have served with him." General John A. Lejeune called Daly "the outstanding Marine of all time."

In World War I, Daly became further cemented into Marine Corps lore when he is said to have yelled, "Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?" to his company before charging the Germans at the Battle of Belleau Wood, though there is considerable evidence that the battle cry was the invention of an enthusiastic war correspondent. He was also awarded the Navy Cross and the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions in France.

Daly's Medals of Honor are on display at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, Virginia, which also features the "live forever" quote etched in the stone of the building's rotunda.

Early life Daniel Joseph Daly was born on November 11, 1873, in Glen Cove, New York, on Long Island. He spent his youth in New York City, working as a newsboy and a laborer.

Military career Early career

Daly enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on January 10, 1899, at the age of 25. His first posting was with the Asiatic Fleet aboard the cruiser USS Newark. In 1900, the Newark arrived in China as part of the China Relief Expedition during the Boxer Rebellion. A working party, scheduled to follow to construct defenses, never arrived. Daly volunteered to hold the position while Captain Hall returned for the working party, and single-handedly fought off a furious all-night Boxer attack, an action which earned him his first Medal of Honor. (Daly's Medal of Honor citation is dated August 14, the day the Siege of the International Legations ended, and simply states that Daly "distinguished himself by meritorious conduct," making no specific mention of his heroism of July 15.) This terseness was typical of Medal of Honor citations from this period. By contrast, Captain Hall's after action report praised Daly's "courage and fidelity" and detailed his actions in full. Later that year, Daly had two run-ins with military discipline: He was court-martialed once for drunkenness on post and spent three weeks in the brig at the Boston Navy Yard, and again three weeks later for drunkenness and verbal abuse of the sergeant of the guard. He also trained recruits, worked as a guard at the Portsmouth Naval Prison, and gained a reputation as an excellent boxer. He was promoted to corporal in 1906 and sergeant in 1909. On March 14, 1911, Daly was garrisoned at the United States Naval Station in San Juan, Puerto Rico, when he spotted a gasoline fire that was spreading from the forecastle of the merchant schooner Springfield. Daly, with a party of nine other Marines and sailors, successfully extinguished the fire, though he spent several weeks hospitalized with severe burns. Daly received commendations from both the Secretary of the Navy and the Commandant of the Marine Corps for his actions. The ensuing battle saw intense street fighting, and the day after landing, Daly's platoon was pinned down in an arroyo, facing heavy sniper fire from a rooftop. Daly covertly crawled out of the ditch, entered the building from the rear and killed its entire seven man garrison, five by rifle fire and two by bayonet. By the end of the day, the Americans had captured the city.

Daly earned his second Medal of Honor in Haiti with the U.S. Marines supporting the Haitian government in a fight against Cacos insurgents. On the night of October 24–25, 1915, during the Battle of Fort Dipitié, Gunnery Sergeant Daly was on mounted patrol with a detachment of three squads—40 Marines total—from the 15th Company, 2nd Marine Regiment, under the command of Major Smedley Butler. The Marines were ambushed by a force of some 400 Cacos while crossing a river near the fort, and the horse carrying their machine gun was killed, its carcass sinking to the riverbed. With the battle raging throughout the night, Daly left the Marines' defensive position, swam the river under constant fire until he located the horse, freed the machine gun from its restraints, and carried the of weaponry and ammunition more than a mile back to the Marines' position. Butler wrote that Daly performed this feat on his own initiative, and that the major was surprised to see the machine gun, which he had been resigned to fighting without, set up back at the Marine camp. Butler further wrote that Daly moved "coolly and deliberately" and that he himself "wouldn't have had the courage" to undertake such an exploit. At daybreak, the Marines, rearmed and with Daly in command of one of the squads, routed the Cacos, capturing and destroying Fort Dipitié.

Three weeks later, on November 17, 1915, the Americans fought the Cacos once again in the decisive Battle of Fort Rivière. A combined force of U.S. Marines and sailors delivered a crushing blow to the final insurgent stronghold, ending the First Caco War. In Major Butler's report on the Fort Rivière campaign, he wrote that Daly was "the most conspicuous figure among the enlisted personnel. Daly is a real red-blooded marine and it was an object lesson to have served with him." Daniels, in announcing the Medal of Honor citations for the campaign, wrote that Daly displayed "conspicuous gallantry" at both the Battle of Fort Dipitié and the Battle of Fort Rivière.

World War I

Daly's service in World War I began with his arrival in France on November 4, 1917, as first sergeant of 73rd Company, 6th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Brigade, attached to the U.S. Army's 2nd Infantry Division. The division initially trained in the Toulon Sector, near Verdun (March–May 1918), and saw action at the Third Battle of the Aisne. For his actions from June 5–10, Daly was awarded the Navy Cross, the Army's Distinguished Service Cross, and the French Médaille militaire.

Daly later fought in the Battle of Saint-Mihiel and the Battle of Blanc Mont Ridge. By the war's end, he had suffered a bullet wound in the shoulder and two shrapnel wounds in the leg. Daly left active duty for the United States Marine Corps Reserve in 1919, and officially retired on February 6, 1929, at the rank of sergeant major.

Legacy An engraving at the National Museum of the Marine Corps displaying the quote commonly attributed to Daly: "Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?" According to Marine Corps lore, Daly rallied his men at the Battle of Belleau Wood by yelling, "Come on, you sons-o'-bitches, do you want to live forever?" This quote first appeared in And They Thought We Wouldn't Fight, a 1918 memoir by war correspondent Floyd Gibbons of the Chicago Tribune. Gibbons, who was attached to Major Benjamin Berry's 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, attributed the line to an unnamed gunnery sergeant in that unit. Popular legend eventually credited Daly (already well known as a double Medal of Honor recipient) with the rallying cry, despite discrepancies in the story—Daly was not a member of the 5th Marine Regiment but the 6th, which was positioned to the south of where Gibbons was reporting, and Daly was a first sergeant, not a gunnery sergeant. Historian Alan Axelrod wrote that "nobody has been found who actually heard [Daly] say it." Regardless, in May 1919, less than a year after the battle, Daly's story at Belleau Wood—incorporating the quote—was featured in "The Wood of Fair Water," one of six short films in The Rothapfel Unit Program, a motion picture directed by Marine veteran Samuel L. Rothapfel.

For his part, Daly told a Marine Corps historian that he yelled, "For Christ's sake, men—come on! Do you want to live forever?" Irrespective of its origin, the quote has become deeply entrenched in Marine Corps lore, exemplified by the closing line of a 1954 eulogy of Daly in the Marine Corps Gazette: "But the Dan Daly of China, Haiti and France will remain part and parcel of our tradition as long as the Marine Corps contains any SOBs who want to live forever." and was buried at Cypress Hills National Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

Medals Daly's decorations and medals includes two Medals of Honor; the Navy Cross; Distinguished Service Cross; two Purple Hearts; Good Conduct Medal with two bronze stars; the China Relief Expedition Medal; the Philippine Campaign Medal; the Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal with one bronze star; the Mexican Service Medal; the Haitian Campaign Medal; the World War I Victory Medal with Aisne, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne, and Defensive-Sector clasps and Citation Star; three letters of commendation; the Médaille militaire (France); the Croix de Guerre with Palm (France); and the Fourragère (France).

Medal of Honor (first award)Medal of Honor (second award)Navy CrossDistinguished Service CrossPurple Heartwith 1 service starMarine Corps Good Conduct Medalwith 2 service starsChina Relief Expedition MedalPhilippine Campaign MedalMarine Corps Expeditionary Medalwith 1 service starMexican Service MedalHaitian Campaign MedalWorld War I Victory Medalwith Aisne, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne, andDefensive-Sector clasps, and Citation StarMédaille militaire (France)Croix de Guerrewith bronze Palm (France)Croix de Guerre Fourragère

Medal of Honor

First award: 1901

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Second award: 1915

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Distinguished Service Cross

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Navy Cross

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Citation Star In 1932 the Silver Citation Star became the Silver Star, a full sized decoration. All personnel awarded the Silver Citation Star were authorized to wear the Silver Star, the USA's third highest decoration for heroism in combat.

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