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Speaker 1: On a hot June afternoon in nineteen eighteen, the sixth
Speaker 1: Marines were facing a massacre. It was World War One
Speaker 1: and the American forces had gathered in Bellowwood in northern France.
Speaker 1: They were there to fight the Germans, but to get
Speaker 1: to them they would have to cross a wide open
Speaker 1: field of wheat, and that field was ringed by enemy
Speaker 1: machine gunners. They were hidden in trees and behind boulders,
Speaker 1: invisible and deadly, the stalks of grain bent in the breeze.
Speaker 1: The sun was shining. It might have been a beautiful day,
Speaker 1: but the only sound anyone could hear was the snapping
Speaker 1: and cracking of machine gun and rifle fire, and the
Speaker 1: screaming of wounded men. There was just one way for
Speaker 1: the Marines to eliminate those enemy positions, one at a time,
Speaker 1: slowly and painfully, using hand grenades, rifles, bayonets, fighting hand
Speaker 1: to hand. If they had to progress seemed possible. The
Speaker 1: men had already been there for days, pinned down and stuck,
Speaker 1: worn out by the never ending combat. One platoon of
Speaker 1: Marines was lying in a shallow fox hole. They had
Speaker 1: dug it out by hand, at the edge of a clearing.
Speaker 1: They were holding onto that ground for a dear life.
Speaker 1: Then a runner came scrambling through the brush. He handed
Speaker 1: a piece of paper to their sergeant. The sergeant's name
Speaker 1: Dan Day. He was a lot older than the men
Speaker 1: he led. He'd been in the Marines for nearly twenty years.
Speaker 1: With a bristle of snow white hair and intense gray eyes,
Speaker 1: Dan was pretty easy to pick out on the battlefield.
Speaker 1: But more than that, Dan was famous, famous for his
Speaker 1: courage and battle for his toughness. In fact, the story
Speaker 1: goes that when one of the guys in the learned
Speaker 1: his sergeant was Dan Daily, he said, quote, he's real.
Speaker 1: I thought he was somebody the Marines made up like
Speaker 1: Paul Bunyan. Dan Daly read that piece of paper. He
Speaker 1: looked across his line of marines, and then Dan made
Speaker 1: a forward motion with his hand. The men knew what
Speaker 1: it meant. Their sergeant wanted them to advance toward the enemy,
Speaker 1: out into the open, into the machine gun fire. They hesitated.
Speaker 1: They could already see enemy bullets kicking up the dirt,
Speaker 1: inching closer and closer. So Dan stood up and ran
Speaker 1: to the center of the platoon, right in the middle
Speaker 1: of his men. He swung his rifle over his head,
Speaker 1: bayonet glinting in the sunlight, and then he shouted, come on, you,
Speaker 1: sons of bitches, do you want to live forever? I'm Jr.
Speaker 1: Martinez and this is Medal of Honor Stories of Courage.
Speaker 1: The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in
Speaker 1: the United States, awarded for gallantry and bravery and combat
Speaker 1: at the risk of life, above and beyond the call
Speaker 1: of duty. Each candidate must be approved all the way
Speaker 1: up the chain of command, from the supervisory officer in
Speaker 1: the field to the White House. This show is about
Speaker 1: those heroes, what they did, what it meant, and what
Speaker 1: their stories tell us about the nature of courage and sacrifice.
Speaker 1: Today we'll meet the ultimate Marine, Daniel Daily, one of
Speaker 1: the very few people to have been awarded the Medal
Speaker 1: of Honor not once, but twice, plus a zillion other awards,
Speaker 1: from the Navy Cross to the CUIs Duguerre. So, of course,
Speaker 1: his platoon followed him when he yelled that famous battle cry.
Speaker 1: They charged into those German defenses, and Dan himself rescued
Speaker 1: twelve Marines who were stranded in that wheat field, risking
Speaker 1: his life again and again. And this wasn't even one
Speaker 1: of the actions. He received the Medal of Honor. For
Speaker 1: Dan's story isn't just about incredible courage. It's about a
Speaker 1: man who witnessed a totally different and sort of surprising
Speaker 1: version of the Marine Corps and whose legend helped make
Speaker 1: it the force it is today. Back in the early
Speaker 1: nineteen hundreds, the Marine Corps looked nothing like it does now.
Speaker 1: It was tiny, just about one hundred and fifty officers
Speaker 1: and around fifty five hundred men. Their main duty was
Speaker 1: guarding naval installations on land and working as guards on
Speaker 1: naval vessels at sea, kind of like cops on ships.
Speaker 1: There were bit players in a lot of conflicts all
Speaker 1: over the place.
Speaker 2: Uncle Sam's most colorful and heroic military units officially formed
Speaker 2: by the Continental Congression seventeen seventy five.
Speaker 3: The Marines have been in the thick of things ever sin.
Speaker 1: But they also had a very specific and unusual function.
Speaker 1: When there were threats to Americans doing business in foreign countries,
Speaker 1: the Marines would go ashore to protect them, which is
Speaker 1: how they ended up in China in the summer of
Speaker 1: nineteen hundred. For decades, Western nations in Japan had forced
Speaker 1: China to accept foreign control over the country's international trade.
Speaker 1: American businessmen, bankers, manufacturers, and companies like Standard Oil were
Speaker 1: huge presents in the country. They wanted to sell their
Speaker 1: goods to the largest population in the world. Not everyone
Speaker 1: was happy about this arrangement. A group emerged in northern
Speaker 1: China called the Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fists.
Speaker 1: Westerners reduced it to the Boxers. The Boxers thought the colonizers,
Speaker 1: and particularly the Christian missionaries, were to blame for their
Speaker 1: poor standard of living, so they decided to fight back.
Speaker 1: By eighteen ninety nine, the Boxers were destroying churches and
Speaker 1: foreign property, killing Chinese Christians and Western missionaries. They got
Speaker 1: closer and closer to the country's capital, Peiking, now called Beijing.
Speaker 1: That's where the foreigners lived, and a kind of walled
Speaker 1: city within the city. They called it the Legation Quarter.
Speaker 1: The Chinese government began supporting the Boxers, and the international
Speaker 1: community realized that to leave the walled city would probably
Speaker 1: mean death for them, so they called in military protection
Speaker 1: from their home countries. In May of nineteen hundred, about
Speaker 1: three hundred troops from places like Great Britain, Japan, Germany,
Speaker 1: and Italy arrived in Peking and from America came the Marines,
Speaker 1: except there were just fifty of them, including a young
Speaker 1: man named Dan Daily. Dan had joined the corps just
Speaker 1: a year before. According to his enlistment papers, he had
Speaker 1: been born in Long Island in eighteen seventy three, but
Speaker 1: evidence suggests he was born a few years earlier and
Speaker 1: thousands of miles away in Ireland. His parents survived the
Speaker 1: Great Famine and resettled in America. Young Dan worked in
Speaker 1: a kerosene factory on Long Island. It's easy to see
Speaker 1: why the Marines appealed to him. America was spreading into
Speaker 1: more and more foreign territory. Marines traveled the world, and
Speaker 1: that probably sounded a lot better than spending your life
Speaker 1: in a factory on Long Island. Plus Dan was a
Speaker 1: prize fighter on the side exploring fighting. These were things
Speaker 1: Dan loved, so he enlisted, and after a little more
Speaker 1: than a year he was in Peking foreigners and their
Speaker 1: families were fleeing the Boxers. They poured into the legation quarter.
Speaker 1: Thousands of Chinese Christian refugees did too, and on June twentieth,
Speaker 1: the Boxers began their siege of the city. That small
Speaker 1: international group of military men Dan included was stationed in
Speaker 1: the quarter and they were outnumbered forty to one. They
Speaker 1: called for reinforcements, but it would take almost two months
Speaker 1: for those to arrive. In the meantime, the heat sword
Speaker 1: reaching one hundred and ten degrees in the shade. Food
Speaker 1: was dwindling. The people in the quarter had to eat
Speaker 1: their horses. Dan and the Marines had one main goal
Speaker 1: to hold what was called a tartar wall. It ran
Speaker 1: along one side of the quarter, about the size of
Speaker 1: a four story building. The Boxers built barricades on the
Speaker 1: other side of the wall, and they kept building them higher.
Speaker 1: They hoped to be able to storm their way inside
Speaker 1: the quarter. So the marine spent all their time firing
Speaker 1: at the Boxers on the barricades, trying to hold them off.
Speaker 1: They were quickly running out of ammunition. If the Boxers
Speaker 1: breached the wall, the fight would be over instantly. On
Speaker 1: the night of July fourteenth, weeks into the siege, Dan's
Speaker 1: captain told him he needed a volunteer to stay on
Speaker 1: top of the wall alone. The captain had to go
Speaker 1: down to bring up more men and sandbags. Reportedly, the
Speaker 1: captain whispered to Dan, I won't order you to stay
Speaker 1: out here, but if you can hold them back to noight,
Speaker 1: they'll never drive us back tomorrow, to which Dan cheerily replied,
Speaker 1: see you in the morning, captain, The night would have
Speaker 1: been hot. Dan took cover in a little forty five bastion.
Speaker 1: He piled ammunition in front of him, and he waited.
Speaker 1: He could hear the Chinese soldiers talking nearby, and then
Speaker 1: sure enough they came after him in the dark. The
Speaker 1: boxers weren't sure how many Marines were in that bastion.
Speaker 1: They didn't know it was just Dan. With this limited
Speaker 1: supply of ammo, he was going to need all of it.
Speaker 1: First two came Dan's way and he shot them. Then
Speaker 1: four more men came. He shot three and used his
Speaker 1: bayonet to kill the fourth, but the men kept coming
Speaker 1: all through the night. Dan held on for daylight and
Speaker 1: watched his pile of bullets get smaller and smaller. He
Speaker 1: had to be a perfect shot in the dark. For hours,
Speaker 1: he couldn't waste a bullet, and he didn't. Dawn rose
Speaker 1: slowly over the tartar wall, and when the captain arrived
Speaker 1: back at the top, Dan was there to greet him,
Speaker 1: just like he had promised. According to some reports, the
Speaker 1: bodies of two hundred enemy soldiers were found that morning
Speaker 1: below the wall. This marked the first time that Dan
Speaker 1: will receive the Medal of Honor. He had been a
Speaker 1: one man barricade. If he hadn't been there, it might
Speaker 1: have been the end of the quarter. A few weeks later,
Speaker 1: a force from eight nations arrived in China, roughly ten
Speaker 1: thousand of them took Peking, defeating the boxers. The siege
Speaker 1: was over, and the foreign powers took brutal revenge. They
Speaker 1: executed boxers and their supporters. They burned villages to the ground,
Speaker 1: they plundered everything, plus the foreign nations demanded reparations from
Speaker 1: the Chinese government. These reparations were so large that they
Speaker 1: would cripple China for decades. The Marines would stay there
Speaker 1: until nineteen forty one. Not Dan Daly, though he kept moving.
Speaker 1: Part of what made Dan the ultimate Marine is he
Speaker 1: went all in on everything he did. Dan Day arrived
Speaker 1: in the Philippines in September of nineteen hundred. While there
Speaker 1: were no battles to fight at the moment, he still
Speaker 1: had a lot of energy. By October, he was put
Speaker 1: on report for failing to return on time from leave.
Speaker 1: Then he was on restriction for thirty days after being
Speaker 1: ten hours late from leave. Then he was court martialed
Speaker 1: for being drunk on his post and was sent to
Speaker 1: the brig He got out and promptly went in again
Speaker 1: for the same thing drunkenness, along with quote using obscene
Speaker 1: threatening an abusive language toward a sergeant of the guard.
Speaker 1: All of these offenses and a bunch more in just
Speaker 1: ten months not exactly the description of the ideal marine
Speaker 1: that the Corps advertised.
Speaker 3: In the Marine Corps, a man is trained first in
Speaker 3: those things that will develop him as a man, in
Speaker 3: those qualities of general leadership, such as dependability, personal bearing,
Speaker 3: physical and metal stamina, should self reliance and self confidence.
Speaker 1: Well, he certainly had self confidence. I guess his bad
Speaker 1: behavior went on for years. But while he was seeing
Speaker 1: the inside of the brig he was also seeing the
Speaker 1: world because these years coincided with Teddy Roosevelt's presidency, and
Speaker 1: Roosevelt believed that the US should act as a sort
Speaker 1: of international policeman, stepping in with force if necessary. So
Speaker 1: the Marines were all over the place. Dan was off
Speaker 1: the coast of Puerto Rico, then Panama. The Marines were
Speaker 1: officially there to protect American citizens and unofficially there to
Speaker 1: make sure the US could build the Panama Canal. In
Speaker 1: March of nineteen eleven, he was aboard the USS Springfield
Speaker 1: and San Juan, Puerto Rico, when a gasoline fire broke out.
Speaker 1: Dan risked his life to put out the flames before
Speaker 1: the ship blew up. He got a commendation from the
Speaker 1: Secretary of the Navy. In nineteen fourteen, Dan went to Mexico,
Speaker 1: where the US had investments in oil. He fought in
Speaker 1: the Battle of Veracruz. The Marines occupied the city. I mean,
Speaker 1: come on, this guy was everywhere. Eventually he became a sergeant.
Speaker 1: He was in his early forties mellowing out a little maybe,
Speaker 1: and the Marines were changing to The tiny core that
Speaker 1: Dan had joined in eighteen ninety nine was up to
Speaker 1: ten thousand men by nineteen fourteen, but their role was
Speaker 1: still a little odd. They weren't exactly fighting in war zones.
Speaker 1: They were kind of like a police force for American business.
Speaker 1: That's how Dan wound up in Haiti. Haiti was a
Speaker 1: major port in the Sea Lane between the New Panama
Speaker 1: Canal and the Atlantic Ocean, so it was more important
Speaker 1: to the US than ever. The United States move Haiti's
Speaker 1: gold reserve to New York in nineteen fourteen. Then they
Speaker 1: used that as leverage to pressure Haiti to hand over
Speaker 1: control of its finances. By July of nineteen fifteen, the
Speaker 1: country was on the brink of civil war.
Speaker 2: Having suffered a succession of weak presidents and almost continuous
Speaker 2: civil wars, Haiti is now on brink of bankruptcy and
Speaker 2: laws of the land have been virtually lost in chaos
Speaker 2: of island wide anarchy.
Speaker 1: A civil war would be bad for business, so President
Speaker 1: Woodrow Wilson sent in the Marines. Dan's major was the
Speaker 1: awesomely named Smedley Darlington Butler His man nicknamed him Old
Speaker 1: gimblet Eye because he had a crazy, intense stare. Anyways,
Speaker 1: Butler had been in China and Mexico with Dan. He
Speaker 1: loved him, He said. Dan was quote the fightingist man
Speaker 1: I avenue. His hair was gray even then. He was
Speaker 1: smooth faced, with skin like leather, hard boiled as the devil,
Speaker 1: but fine clear through. I admired his courage and modesty
Speaker 1: and became very much attached to him. The Marines took
Speaker 1: charge of Haiti's ports and set up camps throughout the country. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: US officials got veto power over government decisions. They had
Speaker 1: the constitution change to allow foreigners to buy property. Pretty
Speaker 1: sweet deal for the US, maybe not so much for
Speaker 1: the Haitians. Everything was settling in for a long occupation,
Speaker 1: except that a group of rebels called Cacos began ambushing
Speaker 1: Marine patrols, attacking outposts, and so the Marines and the
Speaker 1: Cacos went to battle.
Speaker 2: And then in nineteen fifteen, United States Marines land in
Speaker 2: Haiti to battle Haitian bandits threatening destruction of American properties,
Speaker 2: and native bandits quickly head for the hills. This puts
Speaker 2: immediate end to troubles in populated areas, but marines prepare
Speaker 2: to drive into interior and rout the insurgents out.
Speaker 1: In late October, Smedley Darlington, Butler, Dan and around thirty
Speaker 1: five other men went to find a CaCO stronghold in
Speaker 1: the mountains. They set out from a base camp on
Speaker 1: horseback with pack animals, carrying food, ammunition, and a machine gun.
Speaker 1: On the third day of their mission, they came across
Speaker 1: a Haitian man, and Butler made him an offer. Show
Speaker 1: us the Caco's forked. If you do, you'll get five dollars.
Speaker 1: If you don't, you'll get a bullet, and not much
Speaker 1: of a choice. The man chose the money. Soon the
Speaker 1: marines had the Caco's fortress in their sights. It was
Speaker 1: perched on a mountain surrounded by rough stone walls and trenches.
Speaker 1: Butler immediately realized his single platoon of men would be
Speaker 1: no match for that, so they retreated. They rode in
Speaker 1: the rain. They reached the banks of a fast running
Speaker 1: river too deep for them to wade across, so the
Speaker 1: men dismounted and the horses began to swim, with the
Speaker 1: marines hanging onto their tails. Suddenly, bullets zipping past the
Speaker 1: men into the water. That guy they threatened with death.
Speaker 1: He had led them right into a trap. The marines
Speaker 1: were surrounded by hundreds of cacos. By a stroke of
Speaker 1: crazy luck, all of the marines made it across the river.
Speaker 1: Their animals weren't so fortunate. After the men got to safety,
Speaker 1: Butler ordered Dan to set up the machine gun, but
Speaker 1: it had been strapped to the back of one of
Speaker 1: the pack horses, and that horse was at the bottom
Speaker 1: of the river. Butler tried to figure out what they
Speaker 1: can do instead, and Dan just disappeared. He crawled back
Speaker 1: to the river through the underbrush. That caco's bullet sheared
Speaker 1: off the sticks and leaves around him. Then he plunged
Speaker 1: into the river. He dived over and over into the
Speaker 1: depths of that cold and murky water, trying to locate
Speaker 1: each dead horse, until finally he found the one with
Speaker 1: the machine gun tied to its back. Then he dove
Speaker 1: even deeper, holding onto the horse underwater, Dan cut the
Speaker 1: gun loose. He broke the surface of the water and
Speaker 1: gasped for air. Then he swam back to the river bank,
Speaker 1: dragging the gun somehow, dodging bullets. He made it to
Speaker 1: shore and then He strapped the gun to his back
Speaker 1: and carried it to the high ground where the rest
Speaker 1: of the Marines were. Dan threw the gun down, and
Speaker 1: I can only imagine they were like, how the hell
Speaker 1: did you get that? But by now they were surrounded.
Speaker 1: Butler said, quote all the men were praying, Even hard
Speaker 1: boiled marines pray when they feel helplessly snared in a
Speaker 1: death trap. Don was breaking. Butler divided the men into
Speaker 1: three squads and told them to go in three different directions,
Speaker 1: shooting everyone they could see. That machine gun helped a
Speaker 1: whole lot. The Marines were eventually able to make their
Speaker 1: way back to safety, sleepless, exhausted, and hungry, marching one
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty miles in five days, all without losing
Speaker 1: a man. Later on, Butler recommended Dan for the Medal
Speaker 1: of Honor, saying quote, I wouldn't have had the courage
Speaker 1: to do that. Remember, he went back on his own
Speaker 1: initiative without a hint or suggestion from me, And that's
Speaker 1: how fighting Dan Daily got his second medal. Dan left
Speaker 1: Haiti in January of nineteen sixteen, headed for New York,
Speaker 1: where his mom and siblings still lived, but the Marines
Speaker 1: would stay in Haiti for another nineteen years, fighting the
Speaker 1: rebels and anyone else who objected to the US presence.
Speaker 2: Till nineteen thirty four. Contingents of the United States Marines
Speaker 2: keep border in Haiti, withdrawing only when Haiti finally becomes
Speaker 2: nation of peace and prosperity.
Speaker 1: Well that's not exactly what happened, is it. Dan and
Speaker 1: Smedley Darlington Butler and the rest of the Marines had
Speaker 1: risked life and limb, but one of them at least
Speaker 1: would look back in wonder for what. Let's go back
Speaker 1: to France where we started this episode. It was World
Speaker 1: War One, the Zillian conflict. Dan had seen just one
Speaker 1: more port of call for him. But the Marines had
Speaker 1: changed massively in the almost twenty years that Dan had
Speaker 1: been enlisted. For one thing, they were so much bigger.
Speaker 1: By the end of World War One, there would be
Speaker 1: about twenty four hundred officers and seventy thousand enlisted men.
Speaker 1: Dan put his combat experience to work. He trained new
Speaker 1: recruits and got them ready for war. Ironically, he was
Speaker 1: a stickler for detail, ready to restrict a man's leave
Speaker 1: if his uniform wasn't pressed right, A far cry from
Speaker 1: old drunk Dan, who spent weeks in the brig Anyway,
Speaker 1: he and the rest of the six Marine shipped out
Speaker 1: to France in October of nineteen seventeen. Dan was still
Speaker 1: in fighting shape. Are we surprised and ready to go
Speaker 1: to the front. It was chaos, but Dan just kept
Speaker 1: being Dan. He single handedly put out a fire in
Speaker 1: an ammunition train. He destroyed enemy machine guns, He captured
Speaker 1: fourteen Germans all by himself, you know the usual. Then
Speaker 1: came June tenth, the day on that heel where he
Speaker 1: gave that famous battle cry. And when Dan yelled, come on,
Speaker 1: you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?
Speaker 1: Maybe his men thought, well, he's kind of lived forever, right,
Speaker 1: and he was a legend. So his men entered that
Speaker 1: field with a roar Dan leading the way. They fought
Speaker 1: for many days. Eventually they were victorious, but Dan was wounded.
Speaker 1: His injuries would keep him out of the rest of
Speaker 1: the war. But let's go back to that famous line.
Speaker 1: When Dan got back to the United States, he claimed
Speaker 1: he never actually said it. The real version he said
Speaker 1: was more like, for gracious sakes, you chaps, leave us
Speaker 1: charge the foe, Not exactly convincing from a man who
Speaker 1: could reportedly swear in seven languages and never repeat the
Speaker 1: same curse twice. But anyway, Dan was one of the
Speaker 1: most decorated men of World War One, but he didn't
Speaker 1: care about the hardware. As he once put it, quote,
Speaker 1: any stiff can go out and win a few medals
Speaker 1: if he ain't entirely out of luck. He was recommended
Speaker 1: for yet another Medal of Honor after France, but he
Speaker 1: received a Distinguished Service Cross instead. Maybe the higher ups
Speaker 1: thought three medals of honor would be overkilled. He didn't
Speaker 1: need them anyway. Every Marine knew his name. In fact,
Speaker 1: his bravery and service helped to define what it meant
Speaker 1: to be a marine. Dan Daley retired from active service
Speaker 1: in the Marines in nineteen twenty and fully retired in
Speaker 1: nineteen twenty nine. In pictures from that time, he's fit
Speaker 1: and trim as ever, with posture that would make Mary
Speaker 1: Poppins proud. He had never married, and when asked why,
Speaker 1: he responded, quote, I can't see how now a single
Speaker 1: man could spend his time better than in the Marines.
Speaker 1: He lived with his sister and her family and queens,
Speaker 1: and took a job as a bank guard. He liked
Speaker 1: to work at night so he could go to baseball
Speaker 1: games during the day, and the kids in the neighborhood
Speaker 1: loved him. One of them remembered quote, I've never met
Speaker 1: a quieter, more thoughtful man, so kind, so cheerful. He
Speaker 1: loved all of us children, and we all loved him.
Speaker 1: Not what you were expecting, am I right? Dan wasn't
Speaker 1: much for speeches or interviews. He refused to talk about
Speaker 1: his famous battles. He told his boss at the bank quote, oh,
Speaker 1: there really wasn't much to it. But while Dan hated
Speaker 1: the spotlight, remember his commander, Smedley Darlington Butler Old Gimlday.
Speaker 1: Butler was a major general, also received two Medals of Honor,
Speaker 1: the only other Marine to do so. And while Dan
Speaker 1: kept quiet, Butler did the exact opposite. He looked back
Speaker 1: and questioned what he and Dan had been doing in
Speaker 1: all those countries for all those years. Sure, in World
Speaker 1: War One, the Marines were fighting for democracy, for a
Speaker 1: principle they could actually believe in. But what about those
Speaker 1: other random places where they'd put their lives on the line.
Speaker 1: Butler retired from the Corps in nineteen thirty one, just
Speaker 1: as the Great Depression was pushing the country deep into poverty,
Speaker 1: he went on a lecture tour talking about how marines
Speaker 1: had been pawns, risking death to put profits in the
Speaker 1: hands of private citizens. Recordings of those speeches haven't survived,
Speaker 1: But here's old Gimletai speaking to a group of unemployed
Speaker 1: World War One veterans.
Speaker 2: Thanks me, so damn man. A whole lot of people
Speaker 2: speak of you tramps.
Speaker 3: Why God, they didn't speak of his tramps. In nineteen
Speaker 3: seventeen and nineteen.
Speaker 1: He wrote quote, I spent thirty three years and four
Speaker 1: months in active service as a member of our country's
Speaker 1: most agile military force, the Marine Corps. And during that
Speaker 1: period I spent most of my time being a high
Speaker 1: class muscleman for big business, for Wall Street and for
Speaker 1: the bankers. I helped make Mexico safe for American oil interests.
Speaker 1: I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for
Speaker 1: the National City Bank boys in China. I helped to
Speaker 1: see to it that standard oil went its way unmolested.
Speaker 1: To be clear, Butler wasn't a crank. He was a
Speaker 1: decorated veteran who loved his country and love the core
Speaker 1: Butler helped push the Marines even further from being a
Speaker 1: police force for American business and into what they are today.
Speaker 1: We don't know what Dan Daly made of his former
Speaker 1: commander's views, but when I think about Butler's outrage about
Speaker 1: the Marines risking their lives for big business, I think
Speaker 1: he must have been imagining Dan racing back to that
Speaker 1: rushing river, diving through the bullets to save his men.
Speaker 1: Butler must have thought a man like that should only
Speaker 1: be asked to serve the highest cause. In nineteen thirty seven,
Speaker 1: when he was in his mid sixties, Dan accepted an
Speaker 1: invitation to march in the parade for Franklin Delano Roosevelt's
Speaker 1: second inauguration. It fell on a wet and cold January day.
Speaker 1: He spent hours standing and marching in the downpour. He
Speaker 1: caught a cold, which led to pneumonia, which weakened his
Speaker 1: already damaged heart. Dan died just a few months later.
Speaker 1: He was buried back on Long Island with full military honors.
Speaker 1: Even he couldn't live forever. But that famous quote, well,
Speaker 1: that quote is never going to die. It's carved into
Speaker 1: the wall of the National Museum of the Marine Corps
Speaker 1: in Quantico. It speaks to a time when men like
Speaker 1: Dan set a new standard for bravery in the service
Speaker 1: of something that wasn't always clear. Dan didn't ask to
Speaker 1: share in the spoils of war. None of the Marines did.
Speaker 1: They didn't fight for standard oil or the National City Bank,
Speaker 1: as the Marine Corps him puts it. They fought for
Speaker 1: right and freedom and to keep their honor clean. And
Speaker 1: that is what they put their lives in the line for,
Speaker 1: over and over again. Medal of Honor Stories of Courage
Speaker 1: is written by Meredith Rollins and produced by Meredith Rollins
Speaker 1: and Jess Shane. Our editor is Ben Adolf Hoffriy. Sound
Speaker 1: design and additional music by Jake Gorsky. Our executive producer
Speaker 1: is Gonstanza Gayadovo. Fact checking by Arthur Gomperts and original
Speaker 1: music by Eric Phillips. Production support by Suzanne Gabber. Don't
Speaker 1: forget we also want to hear from you. Send us
Speaker 1: your personal story of courage or highlight someone else's bravery.
Speaker 1: Just email us at Medal of Honor at Pushkin dot fm.
Speaker 1: You also might hear your stories on future episodes of
Speaker 1: Metal of Honor, or see them on our social channels
Speaker 1: at Pushkin Pods. I'm your host, JR. Martinez