William Oakley

Normally I start off every biography with the name, birthdate, and birth location of the recipient. However, William’s information has been very hard to verify for me. According to Find A Grave and Wikipedia, he was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, on the 31st of August 1857. According to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, he was born on the 25th of August 1860, in Colchester, England. When I searched Ellis Island immigration records and Family Search, I was able to find a William that was born in August of 1855 in England, and this seems to add up better than the other mentioned years. If William was born in August of 1855, then he came to the States in 1870 at the age of 15. His father, also named William, was a Seaman in the Navy (assumably in the Royal Navy) and the young William enlisted in the US Navy on the 23rd of November 1880, in Boston, Massachusetts. What is verified is that he was a Gunner’s Mate Second Class when he deployed to Cuba in support of the Spanish-American War, and his actions later earned him the Medal of Honor. The citation reads:

On board the U.S.S. Marblehead during the operation of cutting the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, Oakley displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this period.

William reached the rank of Gunner’s Mate First Class, though his gravestone has him listed as a Chief Gunner’s Mate, before leaving the Navy and moving back to England. William Oakley died on the 22nd of November 1918, at the age of either 58, 61, or 63 and I found no record of a wife or children. He is buried in the old section of the Wivenhoe Cemetery in Wivenhoe, England: Section B-2-65.