Dan Daly

Daniel Joseph Daly was a United States Marine and one of nineteen servicemen (including seven Marines) to have received the Medal of Honor twice. All Marine double recipients except Daly and Major General Smedley Butler received both Medals of Honor for the same action.

Daly would earn his first Medal of Honor after he single-handedly defended the US Embassy during the Boxer Rebellion. One night while completely alone, he manned a squad machine gun to hold off a force of invading Boxers. The next morning Daly was found alive with 200 enemy combatants dead around him.

His second Medal of Honor was given to him during the occupation of Haiti. His group of about 40 Marines was ambushed by 400 Haitian rebels. While pushing the enemy back so they could set up a defensive position, the Marines lost one of their machine guns in a river. That night, Dan Daly left his position and dove into the river to retrieve the lost machine gun. Once the gun was up and operational the Marines were able to successfully put down the Hatians that ambushed them.

The third almost Medal of Honor would come during the famous battle of Belleau Wood. The Marines laid flat under German gunfire, waiting for the moment when they could advance into the woods. Their only concealment would be a wheat field which was only about waist high. The second there was a break in the enemy fire, Dan Daly jumped up, exposed himself to the enemy fire, and personally led the charge screaming, “Come on, you sons of bitches. Do you want to live forever?" The events following would go into history books as the moment the United States Marine Corps earned their title Devil Dogs.