[3] Burkley joined the United States Navy as a lieutenant commander in 1941, and served in the South Pacific during World War II.
[3] Afterwards, he was assigned to various Navy hospitals and in 1957 was commander of the Naval Dispensary in Washington, D.C.[3] Burkley headed the Navy-operated Presidential retreat at Camp David during the tenure of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and served Eisenhower on a 1959 11-nation tour of Asia.
[3] After the assassination, he accompanied Kennedy's body back to Washington and was present during the autopsy for which he was instrumental in choosing its location at Bethesda Naval Hospital.
[3][4] After Lyndon B. Johnson became president, Burkley was appointed his personal physician, and in 1965 he was promoted to vice admiral.
He moved to Blairsville, Pennsylvania in 1970, then to Los Angeles in 1975 two years after the death of his wife, the former Isabel Winburn.