William George Jamison was born in 1918, the son of William E. Jamison and Charlotte Ackley and stepson of George Edward Ackley.
Sailed in May 1940 from Chafoo, China to Manila, Philippines on the USS Paul Jones. In 1942 he served on the U.S.S. Oahu. Was a prisoner of war in Japan.
Memorialized at Manila American Cemetery, Philippines
The Chattanooga Daily Times, 22 April 1942
William George Jamison, 24-year-old St. Elmo Sailor, yesterday became Chattanooga’s first officially recognized hero of World War II, winning recognition from the navy department for his bravery in action recently near Corregidor island. According to an Associated Press dispatch last night from Washington, Jamison and a Texas youth “braved heavy artillery fire from enemy shore batteries to return a small boat from Corregidor island to their ship.”
Jamison, in recognition for his bravery, was advanced from a electrician’s mate, first class, to machinist’s mate, second class.
Jamison is the son of Mrs. George E. Ackley, 4428 Seneca avenue, and recently completed his first four-year “hitch” in the navy. Informed last night of her son’s achievement, Mrs. Ackley was overwhelmed with the news. “It’s wonderful,” she said. I’m so glad to hear that he is all right, because I have not heard from him since the outbreak of the war. I had one letter from him in Febreuary and another a few days ago, but both were brief, and were dated in November,” she asserted. Mrs. Ackley said that before the war was declared her son serve don a small boat which patrolled the Yangtse River, in China, but that he has presumably been transferred to a lager ship since the declaration of war. Mrs. Ackley said that she has not seen her son during the past three years. Jamison is a graduate of Lookout Junior High and Central High schools. He has one brother, George Ackley Jr., a senior at Chattanooga High School, and three sisters, Mrs. Harry Maffett, Mrs. Claude Cope and Miss Ethel Jamison, nurse at the Physicians and Surgeons hospital.
- Rank: Machinists Mate Second Class
- Date of death: 17 April 1942
- County: Hamilton
- Hometown: Chattanooga
- Service Branch: Navy
- Division/Assignment: USS Oahu
- Theater: Pacific
- Conflict: World War II
- Awards: Purple Heart
- Burial/Memorial Location: Manila American Cemetery, Fort Bonifacio, Manila, Philippines
- Location In Memorial: Pillar XI, Top Panel
- Contact us to sponsor William G. Jamison
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