Grover O’Kelley, son of Benjamin Franklin O’Kelley and Mary Anderson Hix O’Kelley, was born in 1890 in Planter, Madison County, Georgia. Both of his parents died in 1903, and he was raised by a half-uncle.
He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1917, trained at Port Royal, South Carolina, and Quantico, Virginia, and served in the Eightieth Company, Sixth Regiment, 2d Division, American Expeditionary Force in France during World War I.
In Jun 1918, for extraordinary heroism in action at the Battle of Belleau (Bois-de-Belleau), he was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross [2], Distinguished Service Cross, and Silver Star. The Navy Cross and Distinguished Service Cross are the second highest military decorations that can be awarded to a member of the United States Marine Corps and United States Army respectively, and are awarded for extraordinary heroism. The Silver Star, awarded for gallantry in action, is the third highest military combat decoration that can be awarded to a member of the United States Armed Forces.
While leading his platoon of riflemen, bayonets fixed, against German machine gun emplacements that day, his company lost 24 killed, 86 wounded, 1 missing and 1 captured, a loss of 50% of its strength. [3]
His Distinguished Service Cross Citation reads:
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross (Posthumously) to Sergeant Grover Cleveland O’Kelley (MCSN: 88441), United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism while serving with the Eightieth Company, Sixth Regiment (Marines), 2d Division, A.E.F., in action in the Bois-de-Belleau, France, on June 6 – 8, 1918. Sergeant O’Kelley displayed the greatest qualities of courage and leadership in assaults against strong enemy machine-gun positions, and was killed in the performance of this splendid duty. Action Date: June 6 – 8, 1918
Distinguished Service Cross Citation, 29 Jun 1918
His family was informed of his death, and the Department of War announced his death on 9 Jul 1918.
And yet he lived to tell about it.
In late Nov 1918, after the signing of the Armistice on 11 Nov, his half-uncle John Zachariah Segars received a prisoner-of-war postal card from Grover [4], shown below.
During the attack on Belleau Wood by the 80th Company on 8 June, Sgt O’Kelley was wounded in the head only yards from reaching a German machine gun, rendering him unconscious. When he revived, he still had the presence of mind to know the only thing he could do was play dead. Due to the murderous fire and high casualties, his company was forced to retreat, leaving the (supposed) dead Sgt O’Kelley in front of the gun, with the dead body of one of the Marines of his platoon laying across his back.
After dark, O’Kelley tried to remove his dead comrade to make his escape back to his lines, but his movement was observed by the nearby Germans and he was captured. His wound was treated by the Germans and he was held as a POW until the end of the war. When the ground where he fell was retaken, no trace of him was found, and he was presumed dead and buried by the Germans.
Remembrance Military Service Page for Sgt Grover Cleveland O’Kelley [1]
An article on the front page of the 28 Nov 1918 edition of The Cullman Tribune said: “Sgt. Grover O’Kelley Still Lives—He Was Taken A Prisoner.”
After World War I, Grover finished his education, became a lawyer, and later worked for the U.S. Postal Service. He married Ruth Augusta Davis, and they had one son, Grover O’Kelley Jr.
Sgt Grover Cleveland O’Kelley (1890-1969) is 1st cousin 4x removed of MKS in the Spratlin branch.
References:
[1] Remembrance Military Service Page for Sgt Grover Cleveland O’Kelley, created by Sgt Dave Stutesman, togetherweserved.com. Photos there are courtesy of Joanne O’Kelley Kline.
[2] U.S. Marine Corps Navy Cross Recipients, World War I, 1917-1918.
[3] To the Limit of Endurance: A Battalion of Marines in the Great War (C. A. Brannen Series), by Peter F. Owen, 2014.
[4] Prisoner-of-War postal card photographs are courtesy of Ancestry.com member rkline0462.
[5] The Search for Grover O’Kelley, Alabama Heritage website, 1 Dec 2015.