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.

Daly volunteered to hold the position while Captain Hall returned for the working party,[14] and single-handedly fought off a furious all-night Boxer attack, an action which earned him his first Medal of Honor.

[22] On March 14, 1911, Daly was garrisoned at the United States Naval Station in San Juan, Puerto Rico, when he spotted a gasoline fire that was spreading from the forecastle of the merchant schooner Springfield.

The American objective was to seize the customs house to prevent a shipment of German weapons—200 machine guns and 15 million rounds of ammunition, potentially to be used against the United States—from reaching shore.

[24] The ensuing battle saw intense street fighting, and the day after landing, Daly's platoon was pinned down in an arroyo, facing heavy sniper fire from a rooftop.

Daly covertly crawled out of the ditch, entered the building from the rear and killed its entire seven man garrison, five by rifle fire and two by bayonet.

[27] The Marines were ambushed by a force of some 400 Cacos while crossing a river near the fort, and the horse carrying their machine gun was killed, its carcass sinking to the riverbed.

[28] Butler wrote that Daly performed this feat on his own initiative, and that the major was surprised to see the machine gun, which he had been resigned to fighting without, set up back at the Marine camp.

[19] At the outbreak of the Battle of Belleau Wood on June 1, 1918, Daly's regiment was placed in a gap in the line left by the French 43rd Division, with the intent to stop the German advance toward Paris.

Daly immediately charged the weapon, destroying it with three grenades, shot the unit's commanding officer with his .45 caliber pistol, and took its remaining 14 soldiers prisoner.

[39] After serving in the American occupation force in Germany,[41] Daly left active duty for the United States Marine Corps Reserve in 1919,[42] and officially retired on February 6, 1929, at the rank of sergeant major.

[47] Gibbons, who was attached to Major Benjamin Berry's 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, attributed the line to an unnamed gunnery sergeant in that unit.

"[48] Regardless, in May 1919, less than a year after the battle, Daly's story at Belleau Wood—incorporating the quote—was featured in "The Wood of Fair Water," one of six short films in The Rothapfel Unit Program, a motion picture directed by Marine veteran Samuel L.

"[48] Axelrod noted that Gibbons utilized artistic license "to impose order on chaos, to make sense of it, to extract some greater meaning from it" and that the details do not "diminish the reality the legend is based on.

"[22] After leaving the Marines, Daly lived a quiet life with his sister in New York, working as a bank guard on Wall Street and avoiding publicity.

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.

[59]Citation: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to First Sergeant Daniel Joseph Daly (MCSN: 73086), United States Marine Corps, for repeated deeds of heroism and great service while serving with the Seventy-Third Company, Sixth Regiment (Marines), 2d Division, A.E.F., on 5 June and 7, 1918 at Lucy-le-Bocage, and on 10 June 1918 in the attack on Bouresches, France.

On 7 June 1918, while his position was under violent bombardment, he visited all the gun crews of his company, then posted over a wide portion of the front, to cheer his men.

[60]Citation: The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to First Sergeant Daniel Joseph Daly (MCSN: 73086), United States Marine Corps, for repeated deeds of heroism and great service while serving with the 73d Company, 6th Regiment (Marines), 2d Division, A.E.F., on June 5 and 7, 1918 at Lucy-le-Bocage, and on 10 June 1918 in the attack on Bouresches, France.

43, W.D., 1918), First Sergeant Daniel Joseph Daly (MCSN: 73086), United States Marine Corps, is cited by the Commanding General, SECOND Division, American Expeditionary Forces, for gallantry in action and a silver star may be placed upon the ribbon of the Victory Medals awarded him.

First Sergeant Daly distinguished himself while serving with Machine Gun Company, Sixth Regiment (Marines), 2d Division, American Expeditionary Forces at Chateau-Thierry, France, 6 June – 10 July 1918.