George Henry Ellis, a navy hero born in Peoria, Illinois, on October 26, 1875, served as Chief Yeoman aboard the flagship USS Brooklyn during the blockade of the Spanish squadron in Santiago Bay, Cuba. Early on the morning of July 3, 1898, when the Spanish Navy attempted to break out to sea, American naval ships gave chase and a fierce battle followed between the two squadrons. Ellis went to his battle station and operated the stadimeter that determined the range to Brooklyn's enemy target. Standing fully exposed to enemy fire, he faced the opposing ships with a watch in one hand and his stadimeter in the other, recording and calling out the ranges again and again as the battle continued. As Brooklyn closed in on the fleeing Spanish Vizcava, an enemy shell struck Ellis in the face and decapitated him. He was the only American sailor killed in that battle. Ellis was buried with full military honors in Evergreen Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York, on November 28, 1898. At the time of his death, he had an eleven month old son, George Harvey Ellis, whom he had never seen. The United States Navy later awarded Ellis several medals and accommodations and honored him further by naming battleship 154 the USS Ellis, which was later decommissioned in 1942.