WILLIAM K. GISE, LCDR, USN

William Gise '93

Date of birth: June 22, 1871

Date of death: June 28, 1909

Age: 38

Naval Academy Register

William Kern Gise was admitted to the Naval Academy from Dwight, Illinois on June 14, 1889.

Photographs

Loss

William Kern Gise "died while on duty" on June 28, 1909 as the executive officer of the naval station at Tutuila, Samoa. Unable to determine the circumstances of his death, but there is nothing to suggest it was operational in nature. The annual report of the Department of the Navy for 1900 included that the only death at the station was "recorded as a suicide."

Register of Alumni gives date of death as June 29 but no other information.

Other Information

In 1906 he was stationed in the Washington, D.C. area; as a Lieutenant he was in charge of "a battalion of marines and bluejackets" during a funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. He was promoted to Lieutenant Commander in 1907.

William was a veteran of the Spanish-American War, having served in Texas during the Battle of Santiago. He at one time commanded the presidential yacht Sylph.

He was survived by his mother and two siblings; he is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. (William's body was originally buried in Samoa, but re-interred in September 1910.)

In the census of June 1900, William was on the Sylph. He wrote the census schedule for the 24 men on board.
His father William was a dry goods merchant.
From The Girard Press, Kansas, April 21, 1910:

William K. Gise, a nephew of D. K. Gise, of Girard, died while serving in the United States navy, and his mother, who is a resident of Chicago, received the following letter from his subordinates, proving how highly he was esteemed:
U. S. S. ANNAPOLIS,
U. S. NAVAL STATION, TUTUILA,
December 9th, 1909.
DEAR MRS GISE: -- To express in some degree our appreciation of the ability of the nature of your son, the late Lieutenant-Commander William K. Gise, U. S. Navy, the affectionate regard and admiration in which he was held by all, and the perfect justness and kindness that characterized all his actions toward us, we, the crew of the U. S. S. Annapolis, have subscribed the sum of $500.
We desire to place over his grave in the United States cemetery a monument inscribed with our sentiments. According to your wishes, we wish to present you either with a stone that meets with your approval, or with the sum scribed and have you select the stone.
We trust that you will accept this as indicative of the respect and esteem that we bore your son.
Let it also bear to you our deepest sympathy in your great loss.
For the crew of the U. S. S. Annapolis.
W. C. COLEMAN, Chief Master at Arms.
L. P. JONSSON, Chief Quartermaster.
S. F. P. MILLER, Chief Machinist’s Mate.
CHRISTIAN BANER, C. B. M.

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.

The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.

The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.