 Daly graduated from Georgetown Preparatory School in 1941 and joined the Army from Fairfield 's Southport neighborhood in 1942 . He attended the United States Military Academy in West Point , New York , where he was a classmate of George Patton III . While he was at the academy he was , by his own admission , a mediocre student . After having severe disciplinary problems and continuously being placed on special confinement and walking off punishment tours he resigned his appointment after only one year to fight in World War II . Sent to Europe as an eighteen @-@ year @-@ old infantry private , he trained in England and took part in the D @-@ Day landings at Omaha Beach with the 1st Infantry Division . His father also volunteered to serve in the war and was sent first to Guadalcanal , then as a regimental commander to France . 
