George G. Gatley

George G. Gatley was born in Portland, Maine on September 10, 1868,[1] a son of Richard K. Gatley and Sarah (Markham) Gatley.[2] He attended the public schools of Portland, and graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1890.[1] Ranked 25 of 54, he was commissioned in the Field Artillery.[1] He served initially with the 5th Field Artillery, and later with the 2nd and 3rd Field Artillery.[1]

During the Spanish–American War, Gatley commanded Battery K, 5th Field Artillery; after completing mobilization and deployment training, his battery was at the Tampa, Florida port of embarkation awaiting transport to Cuba when the war ended.[1] He was promoted to captain in 1901, and served in the Philippines during the Moro Rebellion as commander of the 17th Field Artillery Battery.[1][3]

Gatley served in Cuba from 1906 to 1913, first as part of the U.S. occupation force, and later as an artillery trainer and instructor for the Cuban Army; he was promoted to major in 1911.[1][3] He was with the 13th Field Artillery on the Mexican border during the Pancho Villa Expedition; from 1915 to 1917 he was a member of the Army's Ordnance Board, which designed and tested new cannons, and made recommendations about which ones to procure.[4] He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1916, and colonel in May, 1917.[3]

In August 1917, Gatley was promoted to brigadier general as commander of the 55th Field Artillery Brigade, a unit of the 30th Division.[1][4] He subsequently transferred to command of the 67th Field Artillery Brigade of the 42nd Division, which he led until the end of the war.[1] He took part in the Champagne-Marne, Aisne-Marne, St. Mihiel, and Meuse-Argonne battles and offensives.[1] From December 1917 to January 1918, Gatley commanded the 30th Division.[5] In 1919 he commanded the 42nd Division during part of its post-war occupation duty in Germany.[5]

Gatley commanded the 8th Field Artillery Brigade at Fort Knox, Kentucky from 1919 to 1920, and graduated from the Army War College in 1921.[1][4] From 1921 to 1924, he commanded the 10th Field Artillery at Camp Pike, Arkansas and Fort Lewis, Washington.[4] Gatley commanded the Overseas Discharge and Replacement Depot at Fort McDowell, California from 1924 to 1929.[4]

He was commander of the 15th Field Artillery Brigade when he became ill in December, 1929.[4] He was hospitalized at Walter Reed Army Medical Center until April, 1930, when he was transferred to Letterman Army Hospital in San Francisco.[4] Gatley died in San Francisco, California on January 8, 1931.[4] He was buried at San Francisco National Cemetery, Section OS, Row 1, Site 11.[6]

At his death, Gatley held the permanent rank of colonel.[1] His rank of brigadier general was restored after he died as the result of a 1930 law which allowed World War I generals to retire at the highest rank they had held.[1]

In 1897, Gatley married Elizabeth "Bessie" Walton Crabb (1876–1954), the daughter of Major George W. Crabb of the 5th Field Artillery.[7] They were the parents of two daughters: Edith (1898–1985), the wife of Robert T. Nash and John Donald MacKenzie; and Dorothy (1902–1981), an actress whose stage name was Ann Harding.[8]

• George G. Gatley at Find a Grave