This is the 2nd of the series of real heroes who received the Congressional Medal of Honor, our country's highest military honor "for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty". The 1st series highlighted Delaware's MOH recipients. Of the millions who have served in the military, only about 3500 men and 1 woman have received our nation's highest honor.
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."
In World War I, Daly became further cemented into Marine Corps lore when he is said to have yelled, "Come on, you sons of ******, 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.
First Award: In the presence of the enemy during the battle of Peking, China, 14 August 1900, Daly distinguished himself by meritorious conduct.
Second Award: Serving with the 15th Company of Marines on 22 October 1915, GSgt. Daly was one of the company to leave Fort Liberte, Haiti, for a six-day reconnaissance. After dark on the evening of 24 October, while crossing the river in a deep ravine, the detachment was suddenly fired upon from three sides by about 400 Cacos concealed in bushes about 100 yards from the fort. The marine detachment fought its way forward to a good position, which it maintained during the night, although subjected to a continuous fire from the Cacos. At daybreak the marines, in three squads, advanced in three different directions, surprising and scattering the Cacos in all directions. GSgt. Daly fought with exceptional gallantry against heavy odds throughout this action.