After nine months of training, he was awarded his wings as a naval aviator and assigned to Patrol Squadron 6 until 1933.

Gallery then joined the PBY night raider ("Black Cats") on USS Half Moon.

He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his method of destroying Japanese night raiders.

In Eight Bells and All's Well, his brother Daniel V. Gallery noted that Phil broke Princeton out of mothballs and had her launching airstrikes off Korea in less than 60 days, a speed record for reactivating an aircraft carrier.

Rear Admiral William Gallery retired from the United States Navy in June 1955.