Remembering a Veteran: Beyond the Famous Quote — The Great War Service of First Sgt. Dan Daly, USMC

By Editor Mike Hanlon

Sgt. Major Dan Daly, MoH (2), DSC

Before the Great War

By some cosmic quirk of fate, Dan Daly was born on 11 November 1873, in Brooklyn, New York, to parents John and Ellen Daly. After surviving the most recent of his three wounds in the World War, he would have had multiple causes to celebrate on his 45th birthday in 1918. 

He had a sister named Mary and a brother named David, and the family eventually moved to Glen Cove on Long Island. As a young man, Daly spent his time working as a struggling newsboy in Manhattan before enlisting in the Marines in 1899 at the age of 26. Soon after he finished training, he was shipped to China to serve in Peking during the Boxer Rebellion where he distinguished himself and received  his first Medal of Honor.  In 1915, while deployed to Haiti, now Gunnery Sgt Daly was awarded a second Medal of Honor.  He  is still the only enlisted Marine to be awarded Medals of Honor for two separate actions and a World War was awaiting him and he was already the most decorated Marine in history.

During the Great War

When the big war came, Dan Daly went to France as First Sergeant of the 73rd Machine Gun Company of the 6th Marines. He saw intense action at Belleau Wood, the St. Mihiel Salient, and Blanc Mont Ridge. 

Click on Image to Enlarge

At the National Museum of the Marine Corps

About That Quote at Belleau Wood

All students of the war are  familiar with that quote shown here, attributed to Daly, which has become part of  Marine and American legend.  There's some indication that Dan, himself, later thought that he might have voiced the encouragement in a slightly more moderate tone.  However, as a movie character once put it, "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." As you can see from the photo above, his legendary quote at Belleau Wood has not only been printed widely, it's been engraved in stone.

Fighting the War

Putting the quote to the side,  Dan Daly fought a World War filled with heroic deeds and personal sacrifice almost beyond belief.  Why this is not better known is something of a mystery. One clue from biographer, Charley Roberts, gives a clue from one of his sources,  “Trying to get biographical data from Daly about Daly is like quizzing the Sphinx. Both are non-committal.” Dan, it seems, was the antithesis of a self-promoter.  If you look online you will find many references to a third Medal of Honor nomination for him, based on his overall performance (not the quote) at Belleau Wood.    The various accounts claim the recommendation was downgraded.  The reasons given for this decision by someone in authority are  that either Daly already had two of the awards (and who needs a third?) or that the Army, which had overall command of the 2nd Division's, or General Pershing himself, just weren't in the mood for handing out Medals of Honor to Marines. As a result, so the various accounts conclude, the recommendation was down-graded to the Distinguished Service Cross and the Navy equivalent, the Navy Cross.

One problem with these contentions is that no one I can find provides a paper trail showing an original recommendation for a Medal of Honor for Daly. I can't find it. With the second Army vs Marines point, there were three individuals with the Marine Brigade who received the award for actions at Belleau Wood, one Marine and two Navy medical men who saw action alongside the Marine. So I don't buy it.

To be clear, though, I'm only skeptical about the explanations why a third Medal of Honor was not issued to Daly. Putting this long-simmering dispute aside for now, let me give you my view after reading and comparing the Medal of Honor citations for all 121 recipients in the First World War (available HERE) and studying Daly's full service in the war.

Dan Daly Should Receive the Medal of Honor for His WWI Service, Posthumously.

"How Twenty Marines Took Bouresches" by Schoonover
Dan Daly Was There

Here is the case for this award as I see it after reviewing his citations and  the unit and operational histories of the battles where Daly was involved. Where appropriate, I'm quoting from his Distinguished Service Cross citation.

At Belleau Wood

• During this operation, on 5 June and at the risk of his life, he extinguished a fire in the ammunition dump at Lucy le Bocage. 
• Two days later, while the Belleau Wood sector was under one of its heaviest bombardments, he visited all machine gun crews of his company, then posted over a wide section of the front, encouraging his men. 
• On 10 June, he single-handedly attacked an enemy machine gun emplacement, capturing it by the use of hand grenades and an automatic pistol. 
• On the same date, during an enemy attack on the village of Bouresches, he brought in wounded under heavy fire.  
• Finally on 10 June,  he was wounded in the leg and knocked out of action for two months.

At St. Mihiel

• He returned to his post with the 73rd Machine Gun Company in time for September's St. Mihiel Offensive.  
• No specifics are available for Daly at St. Mihiel, but his of the 73rd Company distinguished itself throughout the action by protecting the left flank of the 2nd Division, which had been left open by the neighboring division. (I imagine the top sergeant would be pretty busy at such a time.)

At Blanc Mont

• On 8 October, 1918 in the critical assault on the German strongpoint of St. Etienne, Daly was wounded in the shoulder, and kept directing the fire of his machine gunners. 
• Wounded a second time in the knee, knocking him out of action.  
• After two months recuperation, Dan Daly again reported back to his unit for service and completed  a tour of occupation duty, before returning home.

Dan Daly — Young Marine, Old Marine

Afterwards

Back home, Daly remained on active duty until September 1919, when he transferred to the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve. He eventually took a job on Wall Street as a bank guard, a position he held for 17 years. Daly officially retired from the Marine Corps on Feb. 6, 1929, and was advanced to the rank of sergeant major.

Having never married, Daly led a quiet retirement. He worked as a night bank guard and enjoyed New York Giants ball games from the bleachers during baseball season. On April 27, 1937, he died of heart disease at his sister's home in the Glendale area of Queens. He is buried at the Cypress Hills National Cemetery, Brooklyn.

PS:  My Unsolicited Advice

Dear Marines,

Send this article to the Commandant, Secretary of the Navy, elected reps,  and folks like that.  Maybe you'll stir things up.  Remember, that's how Sgts. Bill Shemin and Henry Johnson got the justice they deserved a few years ago.  MH

PS:  #2

I am not a Marine myself, I'm an Air Force veteran. However, 3 of my sisters married Marines if that counts for anything.