The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Private William Palmer Maclay, United States Army, for most distinguished gallantry on 6 May 1900, while serving with Company A, 43d Infantry, U.S. Volunteers, in action at Hilongas, Leyte, Philippine Islands. Private Maclay charged an occupied bastion, saving the life of an officer in a hand-to-hand combat and destroying the enemy.