Dan Daly: Marine. Legend. Badass.

Send us Fan MailJoin Shaner as he celebrates the Marine Corps Birthday, honors Veterans Day and discusses one of the most iconic Marines ever, Dan Daly, a legendary badass.Daniel Joseph Daly was born on November 11, 1873 in Glen Cove, New York. By size, he was 5 ft 6 in and weighed 132 lbs but established himself as an amateurboxer. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on January 10, 1899. Daly joined the Marine Corps hoping to fight in the Spanish-American War however, the war ended while he was going through training at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.Although he missed the Spanish-American War, he saw combat in China, Haiti and in France during WWI. Daly was one of two Marines to receive the Medal of Honor for two separate combat engagements. The other Marine was Major General Smedley Butler, whom we highlighted in our 5th episode. They served together in a few locations and Butler described Daly as "The fightin'est Marine I ever knew!" Daly was reportedly offered an officer's commission twice to which he responded that he would rather be "an outstanding sergeant than just another officer."