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5th sergeant major of the Marine Corps dies

The fifth and most highly decorated sergeant major of the Marine Corps died in Newport Beach, Calif., on July 5, according to Marine officials.

Retired Sgt. Maj. Joseph Dailey, 90, was the oldest living sergeant major of the Marine Corps. Details about the cause of his death were not immediately available. The Daily Pilot of Newport Beach reported that he died of natural causes.

Sgt. Maj. Carlton Kent, the Corps’ current senior enlisted Marine, on Monday flew to Newport Beach for Dailey’s wake. Kent also plans to attend Dailey’s funeral in Pleasant Grove, Utah, when he is buried there Thursday, according to an e-mail Kent sent throughout the Corps on July 5.

Dailey 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.

Retired Sgt. Maj. John Estrada, in his final interview as sergeant major of the Marine Corps before Kent took over, said in April that Dailey would regularly call his Pentagon office “not once a year, but many times per year, just to call.”

“He would call and call and call,” Estrada said. “He’d say, ‘sergeant major, I’m getting my Marine Corps Times, my Leatherneck, and just want you to know you’re doing a good job.’”

Estrada visited Dailey in Newport Beach in April during a tour of the Corps’ Southern California bases and stations.

“We pull up to the house and he was sitting in the window, his red ‘Marine Corps Retired’ hat on, blazer, ready to go out. That was such an awesome, awesome meeting. That really touched me,” Estrada said. “He is by far the most decorated of all the sergeants major of the Marine Corps; three wars, World War II, Korea and Vietnam. We took him out to dinner. I had to do that. I would have hated if he’d passed away.”

Estrada could not be reached for comment Monday on Dailey’s death.

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 on Jan. 31, 1973, according to his official Marine Corps biography.

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 one month and one day after earning the Navy Cross in Korea, Dailey earned the Bronze Star with combat “V” and the Purple Heart for his actions there on March 26, 1953.

Dailey served two tours in Vietnam as a sergeant major. His first tour there with 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, ended when he was medically evacuated after being injured in a vehicle accident in November of 1966. He returned to Vietnam in 1969 and earned the Navy Commendation Medal with combat “V” there as the sergeant major of 3rd Marine Division.

Dailey is survived by his wife, two daughters, 14 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.