Most Decorated Marine

One of the many questions I fielded in my 19 years as a Marine Corps historian was "who is the most decorated Marine ever?"  I wanted to settle the question.  In reality, I wanted to prove what I felt in my heart, that "Chesty" Puller was NOT the most decorated Marine of all time.  I'm not the only one who believes in their heart that Chesty is a highly decorated Marine, but not the top of the list.

So, some time ago, I decided that the only way to decide this was to be objective about it.  I'd done something similar with fixed wing squadrons in order to help the Marine Corps decide which unit to deactivate or reactivate, so I thought it would work here.  

The contenders:

1. LtGen Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, a Mustang (former enlisted), with service in Haiti, Peleliu, Chosin and many other locations.   

2. MajGen Smedley D. Butler, with service in the Spanish-American War, China, Vera Cruz, World War I and more.

3. SgtMaj Daniel Daly, the only enlisted Marine in contention; served in the Spanish-American War, China, World War I and more.

 

The criteria: In order to be objective, the best way to determine the top of the top is to assign a point system for medals (not, foreign awards are excluded at this time):

 

Medal of Honor  (MOH) = 5 points

Brevet Medal (Bvt) = 4 points

Navy Cross (NX) = 3 points

Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) = 3 points

Silver Star Citation/Medal (SS) = 2 points

Bronze Star Medal (BZ) = 1 point

Distinguished Service Medal (DSM)  = 1 point

Purple Heart (or wound stripes) (PH/WIA) = 1 point

 

So here's the breakdown using the point system and

PULLER:

NX:     5 awards x 3 points =          15

DSC:  1 award x 3 points   =            3

BZ -- 1 award x 1 point      =            1

PH -- 1 award x 1 point      =            1

 

TOTAL                             20 points

 

BUTLER:

MOH: 2 awards x 5 points =         10

Brevet: 1 award x 4 points =          4

DSM:  2 awards x 1 point =           2

WIA:    1 wound x 1 point=           1

 

TOTAL                         17 points

 

DALY:

MOH:  2 awards x 5 points =     10

NX:    1 award x 3 points    =      3

DSC: 1 award x 3 points     =      3

SS:    1 award x 2 points      =      2

WIA: 3 wounds x 1 point    =      3

 

TOTAL                         21 points

 

 

Objectively, Dan Daly is the most decorated Marine. So for you Chesty fans, good effort, but still not the Marine that Dan Daly was...my initial inclinations were correct.  

 

The numbers would be even more skewed if I were to include campaign credit (number of campaign stars, etc).  I think I'll save that for another day; unless someone wants to take up the challenge and calculate it.  I'll be happy to post it here with full credit to the author.  Same if someone wants to get into the quagmire that is foreign decorations. The gauntlet has been thrown down. Any takers?