thedrifter
07-21-07, 03:07 PM
Friends and family honor Sgt. Maj. Dailey
By John Hoellwarth - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Jul 21, 2007 9:17:37 EDT
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/xml/news/2007/07/marine_dailey_070721/mc_dailey_obit_070709_287.jpg
At Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, a 27-year-old Marine hopeful named Dailey Nicholson is preparing for his Aug. 3 graduation ceremony.
When that happens, the only family member who won’t be there to see it will be the one he wanted there most, said his mother, Connie Nicholson.
Nicholson’s grandfather and namesake, retired Sgt. Maj. Joseph Dailey, fifth sergeant major of the Marine Corps, died of natural causes in Newport Beach, Calif., on July 5 as the Corps’ oldest living and most highly decorated senior enlisted Marine. He was 90.
“My son’s greatest wish was that my dad could come to the graduation and give him the eagle, globe and anchor,” Connie Nicholson said. “It’s been a legacy in our home. He thought about it for a long time, and he wants to be like his grandpa. One day, he came home and said, ‘I’ve joined the Marines.’ ”
Recruit Nicholson was accompanied by one of his drill instructors to his grandfather’s funeral in Newport Beach on July 9. Until then, neither his drill instructors nor his recruiters knew he was the sergeant major of the Marine Corps’ grandson.
“He told them his grandfather was a sergeant major, but he didn’t tell them his grandfather was ‘the’ sergeant major,” Connie Nicholson said.
She said her son received a little good-natured ribbing from some of the Marines who attended her father’s funeral about the special treatment he could expect back at the depot now that word of his lineage was out.
Among the Marines who attended Dailey’s funeral was Sgt. Maj. Carlton Kent, the Corps’ current senior enlisted Marine.
“There is only a small group of Marines that can say they fought in three wars and earned the decorations that Sergeant Major Dailey has. He always led by example and is one of those Marines who we will read about in history books for years to come,” Kent said at the funeral, according to his spokeswoman.
Kent was also on hand to pay his respects in Pleasant Grove, Utah, when Dailey was laid to rest there July 12.
When Kent learned of Dailey’s death, he called everyone who’d previously held the Corps’ top enlisted spot and sent an e-mail throughout the ranks to notify Marines in every clime and place that one of their own had passed. Retired Sgt. Maj. John Estrada, who left the Corps’ top enlisted spot to Kent in April, said he felt “shocked” at the news.
Estrada’s earliest memories of Dailey date back to his first years in the Corps.
“All of us growing up in the Corps used to look at the pictures of the sergeants major and some of them look mean as hell. I remember looking at Sergeant Major Dailey’s picture and saying, ‘I hope I never have to go see that guy.’ ”
By the time Estrada became the Corps’ top enlisted man, his perception had changed.
Estrada said Dailey would call his office “two or three times out of the year” every year Estrada was the Corps’ senior enlisted Marine.
“He would call and I would talk to him. He would say, ‘Sergeant Major, I just wanted to call and say you were doing a good job.’ He was following what I was doing, what the Marines were doing.”
Only weeks before going on terminal leave, “I decided I’ve made so many trips to California and I’ve never went to see this guy. I would feel really bad if I did not go spend some time with him,” Estrada said.
When Estrada arrived at Dailey’s house, he was waiting there in the window for his dinner date, wearing his red “once a Marine, always a Marine” hat that Connie Nicholson said made her father a recognizable figure on the local beach where he walked with his wife June every day for an hour.
“I spoke to the Marines about that when I went on my last trip to Iraq,” Estrada said. “I let them know how in awe I was to be in his presence. I benefited greatly from getting to meet a hero such as him.”
Dailey, born Feb. 17, 1917, enlisted in the Corps in 1941 and served in its top enlisted spot from Aug. 1, 1969, until his retirement Jan. 31, 1973, according to his official Marine Corps biography.
He earned the Navy Cross as a technical sergeant assigned to 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, in Korea on Feb. 25, 1953, for braving intense enemy machine-gun, grenade and automatic weapons fire to rescue six wounded and isolated Marines, according to his award citation.
He was awarded the Silver Star as a gunnery sergeant with 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, during the fight for Okinawa, Japan, on May 3, 1945.
Only a month after earning the Navy Cross in Korea, Dailey earned the Bronze Star with combat “V” and the Purple Heart for his actions there March 26, 1953.
Dailey served two tours in Vietnam as a sergeant major. His first tour with 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, ended when he was medically evacuated after being injured in a vehicle accident in November 1966. He returned to Vietnam in 1969 and earned the Navy Commendation Medal with combat “V” as the sergeant major of 3rd Marine Division.
Ellie
By John Hoellwarth - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Jul 21, 2007 9:17:37 EDT
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/xml/news/2007/07/marine_dailey_070721/mc_dailey_obit_070709_287.jpg
At Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, a 27-year-old Marine hopeful named Dailey Nicholson is preparing for his Aug. 3 graduation ceremony.
When that happens, the only family member who won’t be there to see it will be the one he wanted there most, said his mother, Connie Nicholson.
Nicholson’s grandfather and namesake, retired Sgt. Maj. Joseph Dailey, fifth sergeant major of the Marine Corps, died of natural causes in Newport Beach, Calif., on July 5 as the Corps’ oldest living and most highly decorated senior enlisted Marine. He was 90.
“My son’s greatest wish was that my dad could come to the graduation and give him the eagle, globe and anchor,” Connie Nicholson said. “It’s been a legacy in our home. He thought about it for a long time, and he wants to be like his grandpa. One day, he came home and said, ‘I’ve joined the Marines.’ ”
Recruit Nicholson was accompanied by one of his drill instructors to his grandfather’s funeral in Newport Beach on July 9. Until then, neither his drill instructors nor his recruiters knew he was the sergeant major of the Marine Corps’ grandson.
“He told them his grandfather was a sergeant major, but he didn’t tell them his grandfather was ‘the’ sergeant major,” Connie Nicholson said.
She said her son received a little good-natured ribbing from some of the Marines who attended her father’s funeral about the special treatment he could expect back at the depot now that word of his lineage was out.
Among the Marines who attended Dailey’s funeral was Sgt. Maj. Carlton Kent, the Corps’ current senior enlisted Marine.
“There is only a small group of Marines that can say they fought in three wars and earned the decorations that Sergeant Major Dailey has. He always led by example and is one of those Marines who we will read about in history books for years to come,” Kent said at the funeral, according to his spokeswoman.
Kent was also on hand to pay his respects in Pleasant Grove, Utah, when Dailey was laid to rest there July 12.
When Kent learned of Dailey’s death, he called everyone who’d previously held the Corps’ top enlisted spot and sent an e-mail throughout the ranks to notify Marines in every clime and place that one of their own had passed. Retired Sgt. Maj. John Estrada, who left the Corps’ top enlisted spot to Kent in April, said he felt “shocked” at the news.
Estrada’s earliest memories of Dailey date back to his first years in the Corps.
“All of us growing up in the Corps used to look at the pictures of the sergeants major and some of them look mean as hell. I remember looking at Sergeant Major Dailey’s picture and saying, ‘I hope I never have to go see that guy.’ ”
By the time Estrada became the Corps’ top enlisted man, his perception had changed.
Estrada said Dailey would call his office “two or three times out of the year” every year Estrada was the Corps’ senior enlisted Marine.
“He would call and I would talk to him. He would say, ‘Sergeant Major, I just wanted to call and say you were doing a good job.’ He was following what I was doing, what the Marines were doing.”
Only weeks before going on terminal leave, “I decided I’ve made so many trips to California and I’ve never went to see this guy. I would feel really bad if I did not go spend some time with him,” Estrada said.
When Estrada arrived at Dailey’s house, he was waiting there in the window for his dinner date, wearing his red “once a Marine, always a Marine” hat that Connie Nicholson said made her father a recognizable figure on the local beach where he walked with his wife June every day for an hour.
“I spoke to the Marines about that when I went on my last trip to Iraq,” Estrada said. “I let them know how in awe I was to be in his presence. I benefited greatly from getting to meet a hero such as him.”
Dailey, born Feb. 17, 1917, enlisted in the Corps in 1941 and served in its top enlisted spot from Aug. 1, 1969, until his retirement Jan. 31, 1973, according to his official Marine Corps biography.
He earned the Navy Cross as a technical sergeant assigned to 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, in Korea on Feb. 25, 1953, for braving intense enemy machine-gun, grenade and automatic weapons fire to rescue six wounded and isolated Marines, according to his award citation.
He was awarded the Silver Star as a gunnery sergeant with 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, during the fight for Okinawa, Japan, on May 3, 1945.
Only a month after earning the Navy Cross in Korea, Dailey earned the Bronze Star with combat “V” and the Purple Heart for his actions there March 26, 1953.
Dailey served two tours in Vietnam as a sergeant major. His first tour with 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, ended when he was medically evacuated after being injured in a vehicle accident in November 1966. He returned to Vietnam in 1969 and earned the Navy Commendation Medal with combat “V” as the sergeant major of 3rd Marine Division.
Ellie