Maj. Joseph Daly Essay

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The American who should be considered the most courageous American is Sgt. Maj. Daniel Joseph Daly. He was 25 years old when he enlisted in the Marine Corps. Originally Daly wanted to fight in the Spanish-American war; although, unfortunately for him, the war had already ended when he enlisted. Throughout his 30 years of service in the US Marine Corps, Daly earned multiple high ranking awards including: 2 Medals of Honor, Médaille Militaire, and a Navy Cross. Even with multiple awards under his belt, Daly still managed to stay humble. It is stated that Daly was “the very model of the professional, self-effacing NCO'' (Zabecki); and MajGen Smedley Darlington Butler, the only other Marine to earn 2 Medals of Honor, said that Daly was "the fightingest …show more content…

He grew up in Glen Cove, N.Y. and enlisted in the Marine Corps when he was 25 years old. When he enlisted, he was only 5’ 6” and weighed a little over 130 lbs. Daly earned his first Medal of Honor during the boxer rebellion, 1900, in Peking, China. Daly volunteered to guard the Tartar Wall. Armed with just a rifle, Lee Navy Model 1895 (Boddington), equipped with a bayonet, Daly spent the night apparently “single-handedly killing more than 200 Boxers who had attempted to breach the wall” (Salinas). It is said when he ran out of ammo “he fought on with a bayonet and rifle butt” (Boddington). For this action, Daly earned his first Medal of Honor with the Medal of Honor citation reading “Daly distinguished himself by meritorious conduct” (Zabecki). Daly earned his second medal of honor in Haiti, 1915, at the age of 42. He was in a squad of 38 other marines to locate the Fort Dipitie and Fort Capois strongholds of the Cacos rebels. On October 24th, 400 Cacos rebels ambushed the marines. They were able to cross a river in a deep jungle ravine. The Marines got ashore without losing a man, but they lost 12 horses and the mule carrying their only machine gun (Zabecki). After the marines established a perimeter, Daly slipped back into the river to find the machine gun. On his way to the river, he silently killed multiple Cacos rebels waiting to ambush the Marines. When he reached the river, he spent hours diving in the water to find the dead mule. When he detached and brought up all the machine gun parts. Daly strapped the 200 lbs gun to his back, which “outweighed him by nearly double” (Zabecki), and carried it back to the marine camp. After repelling assaults through the night, At dawn the Marines counter attacked by splitting their detachment into three squads to fight off their enemies on all fronts (Salinas). The Marines fought well, killing 75 Cacos and

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