TEEM, Joe V.

JOE VON TEEM

Signalman First Class · Plankowner, USS Silversides (SS-236) · Plankowner, USS Monrovia (APA-31) · Retired Chief Quartermaster

Born / Died	17 Oct 1905, Georgia / 21 Feb 1962, Montgomery, AL
Service no.	270-12-53
Commissioning rate	SM1c (15 Dec 1941)
Silversides tenure	15 Dec 1941 – departure not yet established (after 22 Jun 1942)
Patrols aboard	Not yet established (0 or 1)
Final rate	CQM (QMSC)
Other vessels	USS Monrovia (APA-31, plankowner), Stingray (SS-186)
Service	18 Dec 1925 – 21 Feb 1962 (BIRLS, from headstone application, corrected)

Prewar (1905–1941)

Joe Von Teem was born on 17 October 1905 and is recorded as a native of Ellijay, Georgia. In 1920 his widowed mother Leeanna (36) ran a boarding house with six tenants at 151 Archer Street in Canton, Georgia, and Joe, called Von (14), lived there with his brothers Coy (15) and “Bub” (5). By 1930 his mother, now Lee A. Featherstone (46), had remarried and lived in Atlanta with Harry Featherstone (27), and Joe (24) was unemployed there with his brother Robert (16). He enlisted in the Navy on 18 December 1925, aged twenty, so he was a veteran signalman when the Silversides commissioned.

On Silversides (Dec 1941 – 1942)

Teem commissioned aboard *Silversides* on 15 December 1941 as SM1c. On 25 March 1942 he was transferred to the U.S. Naval Hospital, Mare Island, for treatment, six days before the 31 March muster, and his absence from it was real and not a transcription gap. He was received back on 22 June 1942, the day after her first war patrol ended, and appears on the 30 June muster, which still carries his original 15 December 1941 received date.

He does not appear on the ROCs between June and September 1942, nor on the September muster, nor on the muster or ROCs for the Silversides flag allowance. He was out of the boat before the autumn, and whether he made her second patrol (15 July – 8 September 1942) is open.

Patrol table pending: departure date and patrols aboard not yet established.

Later War (1942–1945)

He was a plankowner of the attack transport USS Monrovia (APA-31), commissioned 1 December 1942, and was transferred to the Amphibious Operating Base at Waipio on 27 February 1944. Stingray (SS-186) also appears among his boats. He rose to Chief Signalman (Permanent Appointment) and finished as a Chief Quartermaster.

Postwar (1945–1962)

The 1950 census finds him in Hillsborough County, Florida, with his wife Alice (37) and two young daughters. He listed no employment and said he was not looking for work. He died on 21 February 1962 at the Maxwell Air Force Base hospital in Montgomery, Alabama, at fifty-six. His obituary in the Tampa Tribune of 23 February calls him a retired naval veteran of the Second World War and the Korean War, a member of Naval Reserve Local No. 118 and Iron Workers Local No. 397, and a resident of Tampa for seventeen years, at 2103 Temple Terrace Highway. His wife, three daughters, a brother and a granddaughter survived him.

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Research Notes

• Departure: unresolved. He returned on 22 Jun 1942 (present on the 30 Jun muster), is absent from the ROCs between June and September and from the September muster, and does not appear on the flag-allowance muster or ROCs. As a Monrovia plankowner (1 Dec 1942) he left before December. verify

• Muster gap, March 1942: resolved as above (PSO research, 1 Sep 2026). The 30 Jun muster still carries the 12/15/41 received date, so the return shows only in the transfer and receipt ROCs. A GAP flag means “unexplained,” not “transcription error.”

• BIRLS: the headstone application lists only the later dates, so enlistment and discharge are corrected to 18 Dec 1925 and 21 Feb 1962 (the day of death). The SN matches.

• Place name: the obituary spells his birthplace “Ellaja.” Ellijay is assumed. verify

• Rate: the file has “CSM(PA)” and a final CQM (QMSC); the progression and dates are not documented.

• Open: OMPF, Stingray and Monrovia dates, how he moved from signalman to quartermaster.

• Source notes (carried over, verbatim):

  1920 Census Leeanna Teem (36) widowed Boarding House operator. Coy (15), Vaughn (14), Bub (5). Living at 151 Archer St.
  1930 Census Harry R Featherstone (27) and Lee A. (46). Joe V Teem (24), and Robert B Teem (16). Joe was unemployed.
  1950 Census Joe V Teem (44) and Alice (37). Lee Ann (8) and Nancy (2). No employment listed, not looking for work and not working.
  OBITUARY—Tampa Tribune 23FEB62—Joe Von Teem, 56, of 2103 Temple Terrace Highway, died Wednesday at Maxwell Air Force base, Montgomery, Ala. A native of Ellaja, Ga., he had resided in Tampa for 17 years. He was a retired naval veteran, having served in World War II and the Korean War. he was a member of the Naval Reserve Local No. 118 and the Iron Workers Local No. 397. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Alice Teem; three daughters and one brother, all of Tampa; and one granddaughter.
  Plankowner USS Monrovia (APA-31). Commissioned 1DEC42. Transferred to Waipio Amphibious Operating Base on 27 Feb 44.
  UNCLEAR WHEN HE LEAVES SILVERSIDES Returns on 22 Jun 42. Present on the June Quarterly Muster. Does not appear on ROCs between June and September and is missing from the September Muster. Does not appear on the September Muster or ROCs for the Silversides Flag Allowance. In any case, he was a plankowner for the Monrovia which was commissioned in December 1942.

  Muster gap, 1942-03 — resolved

  Panel D flags TEEM absent from the 31 Mar 1942 quarterly muster while present
  before and after. This is not a transcription error. He was transferred to
  USNH Mare Island for treatment on 25 March 1942 — six days before the muster
  was taken — and was received back aboard after treatment, appearing again on the
  30 June 1942 muster. (PSO research, 2026-09-01.)

  Note the 30 Jun 42 muster still carries his original 12/15/41 received date, so
  the return is not visible in the Date Received column; the transfer and
  receipt ROCs are the evidence. A short hospitalisation straddling a muster date leaves exactly the same signature in the continuity table as a missed
  transcription — see _migration/README.md on why the GAP flag means
  “unexplained”, not “transcription error”.

  Research Notes
  Joe Von Teem. CSM(PA). Headstone application shows his accurate SN 270-12-53, but only lists his Enlistment and discharge as the later dates, corrected to 18DEC25 - 21FEB62. Final rank CQM (QMSC). Born in Georgia. 1920 census shows his mother as Leanna Teem 36 and widowed. She had 3 sons, Coy Teem 15, Von Teem 14, and Bub Teem 5. His mother ran a boarding house with 6 tenants on the 1920 census. Native of Ellaja GA. Resided in Tampa for 17 years. Retired naval veteran served in WWII and Korea. Member of the Naval Reserve Local No. 118 and the Iron Workers Local No. 397.

Sources: 1920, 1930 and 1950 census; BIRLS and headstone application; Tampa Tribune, 23 Feb 1962; Silversides muster and ROC.