Born in Lowell, Massachussetts, on September 23, 1888. He was the only son Arthur Kilham Chadwick, President of the Lowell Five Cents Savings Bank; his mother Julia May (Moulton) Chadwick. Although a poor student, he was accepted into Harvard University. At Harvard he played several sports, most noteworthy as the goalie for the Harvard hockey team and was awarded the Yale Cup for excellence in athletics. Chadwick managed to graduate from Harvard in 1911 and immediately entered the Harvard Law School, earned a degree in 1914, then joined the law department of Stone and Webster. In determination to join the war effort, after two years of trying, he took flying lessons in Virginia, sailed to France and joined the French Foreign Legion where he was assigned to the Lafayette Escadrille. On August 14, 1917, Oliver flew to help a British pilot that was being attacked by a German fighter. While in pursuit, he was attacked from the rear by two other Germans and his plane was shot down north of Bikschote and he was killed.