| Residences | Civilian Occupation |
| Michigan, Virginia, Delaware | Canner, truck driver |
| Branch | Service Number |
| U.S. Naval Reserve | 8262680 |
| Theater | Assignment |
| Zone of Interior (American) | U.S. Naval Training Station, Bainbridge, Maryland |
Early Life & Family
Joseph Harding Keith was born in Detroit, Michigan, on January 26, 1913. He was the son of Carl R. Keith (a metal polisher, 1878–1955) and Mabel Keith (1883–1961). A horrific tragedy struck the Keith family less than four months before he was born. Keith’s parents were living north of Royal Oak, Michigan, with Keith’s older brother, Millard Kenneth Keith (1911–1912). On October 4, 1912, while the elder Keith was at work in Detroit, the toddler wandered away from home. The Detroit Free Press reported:
The child had been playing in the yard while the mother was busy about her household duties. Escaping the vigilance of the latter for a few minutes he wandered upon the track just as the flyer, two hours late, came along. The agonized mother heard the train and rushed out of the house only to pick up the stilled form of her loved one.
When Keith’s father registered for the draft on September 12, 1918, the family was living 1575 McClellan Avenue in Detroit, where Carl Keith was working as a metal polisher for the Studebaker Corporation. Keith’s parents divorced around 1919. Keith and his father were recorded on the next census in January 1920 as roomers on McClellan Avenue, possibly at the same address that they had been living at in 1918.
Tragedy continued to stalk the Keith family. Carl Keith remarried in 1923 to Marie Mendenhall (1896–1931), with whom he had three children. The couple lost a daughter, Julia Keith, as a newborn in 1927, and Marie died four years later. Their first son, Torpedoman’s Mate 2nd Class Clifford Leon Keith (1924–1944) was killed when his ship sank in the Great Atlantic Hurricane. Only one of Keith’s half-siblings survived to old age: Corporal Malcolm Ross Keith (1925–1996) served in the Marine Corps and was wounded during World War II.
Keith’s mother’s obituary stated that she moved to Norfolk, Virginia, around 1922. On September 24, 1926, she remarried to Arthur Lewis Dildine (1884–1945). At some point, her son rejoined her.
By April 1930, Keith was living with his mother and stepfather at 219 24th Street in Norfolk. Keith was working as an office messenger, while his mother was working as a seamstress and his father as a cook in a hotel. According to his military paperwork, he dropped out of high school after completing two years. Keith was Catholic.
By early 1935, Keith, then 22, was in a relationship with a 16-year-old girl, Myrtle Adele Dunnavant (1918–1987), a native of Norfolk. On August 12, 1935, about two months after she turned 17, the couple married in South Mills, North Carolina. Later that year, she gave birth to their only child, Jesse Arthur Keith (1935–1996). Myrtle Keith later told the Navy:
He deserted me and his child in 1937 and his whereabouts were unknown. If Joseph Harding Keith secured a divorce at any other place than Virginia, I received no notice of the proceeding, and he has at all times known my address, and not having received any notice, any decree he might have received, would have been fraudulent.
Although Keith moved just a few miles west of Norfolk, there is no indication he ever saw his wife and young son again. In April 1940, Keith was recorded on the census as a 27-year-old living at 420 Jackson Street in Suffolk, Virginia, and working as a truck driver for a common carrier. He was living with a 22-year-old waitress, Mary T. Keith. When he registered for the draft on October 16, 1940, Keith was living at 320 North Main Street in Suffolk with Mary Elizabeth Keith. Although she was described as his wife in both records, it is unclear if the couple married or whether they provided deceptive information to cover up the stigma of cohabitation. Of course, if Myrtle Keith’s statement was accurate, Joseph Keith could not have legally remarried without divorcing his first wife.
On July 15, 1942, the Suffolk News-Herald reported that Keith was one 27 men “ordered to Richmond Friday[, July 17,] for their final examination preliminary to entrance in the U.S. Army, it was announced today by the city draft board. For unknown reasons, he was not drafted at that time. His Navy personnel file does not include the 1942 medical exam. A later exam mentioned that Keith had “internal defects” though it is unclear if that is what delayed him being called to military service.
An undated alteration to Keith’s draft card stated that he was no longer living in Suffolk but only gave his address as care of the Watkins Produce Company in Thomasville, Georgia. That new address was also crossed out and a new address written in, care of Leo Kyle Krone (1895–1978), Houston, Delaware. By the summer of 1942, he was working as a canner.
If he wasn’t already a polygamist, Keith became one on July 9, 1942, when he married 17-year-old Catherine Rosa Krone (later Rotenberry, 1924–2010) at the Avenue Methodist Parsonage in Milford, Delaware. Their marriage certificate was inaccurate in several ways. Joseph Keith claimed that it was his first marriage, while Catherine Krone was described as a 20-year-old housekeeper.
During World War II, if a man moved outside the jurisdiction of a local draft board, his draft card was not transferred. However, if someone moved too far away, it was possible to comply with an order from one board by going to another local board. Thus, when the Suffolk board directed Keith to be examined again around October 1942, he was able to have it done by Local Board No. 2, Kent County, in Harrington, Delaware.
On October 28, 1942, after receiving the report from Harrington, the draft board in Suffolk classified Keith as eligible for military service. However, according to his Navy personnel file, Keith had surgery to repair a hernia on November 13, 1942.
In addition to his work history as a canner and truck driver, Keith later told the Navy he had experience as an automobile mechanic.
Military Career
After he was drafted, Keith requested naval service, making him a “selective volunteer.” He was inducted into the U.S. Naval Reserve in Camden, New Jersey, on March 20, 1943. He was placed on inactive duty for the next week. On March 27, 1943, Apprentice Seaman Keith reported to the U.S. Naval Training Station, Bainbridge, Maryland, for boot camp.
In filling out his induction paperwork, Keith listed his legal next of kin as a separated wife, Myrtle Keith. He denied having any children and listed his emergency contact as Catherine Keith’s mother, Agnes Krone (1897–1963), who he described as a friend. However, on April 7, 1943, when he applied “for the family allowance authorized by Servicemen’s Dependents Allowance Act of 1942,” he claimed his only dependent was a wife, Catherine Rosa Keith of Houston. Around the same time, he applied for National Service Life Insurance, with the $10,000 policy (about $188,400 in 2025 dollars) split between Catherine Keith and her mother.
Apprentice Seaman Keith was hospitalized at Bainbridge during May 10–25, 1943. On June 8, 1943, after completing eight weeks of boot camp, Keith was promoted to ship’s cook 3rd class. He was retained at Bainbridge instead of being transferred to another base or vessel. Considering how many members of the military were stationed at remote locations during the war, Keith’s assignment—close enough to Delaware to visit on liberty—must have appeared fortuitous.
Early on the morning of Saturday, July 24, 1943, Ship’s Cook 3rd Class Keith was riding in a car driven by Ship’s Cook 3rd Class Gladyn Everett Lundquist (1922–1974). The two men were on liberty from Bainbridge. Keith may have been on the way to visit Catherine Keith, then living at 924 Wright Street in Wilmington. If so, they must have made a detour for some reason since in those days U.S. Route 40 was the most direct way between Bainbridge and Wilmington. Regardless, they were driving north on DuPont Highway (U.S. Route 13) just north of the St. Georges Bridge over the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal. Ahead of them, on the darkened roadway, a truck had stopped. In an odd coincidence, the driver and helper were from Norfolk, where Keith had once lived. By the time Lundquist spotted the truck, it was too late to avoid a collision. Keith suffered extensive injuries in the wreck and died immediately. He was transported to Wilmington Hospital where he was pronounced dead around 0530 hours. After services at Hearn Funeral Home in Wilmington and requiem mass at St. Elizabeth Roman Catholic Church on July 29, 1943, Keith was buried at nearby Cathedral Cemetery.
On August 13, 1943, Journal-Every Evening reported the results of an inquest held the previous evening: “Negligence of a truck driver and his helper in failing to place flares properly around their parked truck contributed to the death of Seaman [sic] Joseph Harding Keith[.]” The jury cleared Lundquist, who was injured in the crash, of any wrongdoing.
It was only after his death that the Navy discovered that Keith had listed two different wives when filling out paperwork. Both women provided evidence of their marriages, but in the absence of any evidence of a lawful divorce, the Navy determined that Myrtle Keith was Keith’s next of kin. She was awarded a death gratuity of $468 (about $8,770 in 2025 dollars) amounting to six months of his pay. She and her son were also providing a dependent identification card entitling them to medical care at naval facilities. It is unclear who the life insurance policy was paid out to. When Keith’s son, Jesse, grew up, he served in the U.S. Army.
Keith’s name is honored at Veterans Memorial Park in New Castle, Delaware.
Notes
Mother’s Name
Keith’s mother’s maiden name was recorded differently in every known source: Bochaine, Bischoff, and Bishop.
1920 Census
The 1920 census was supposed to record where people were residing as of January 1, 1920. A census enumerator recorded Carl Keith on January 6, 1920, as a roomer at 1575 McClellan Avenue, the same address he had resided at in 1918. On January 17, 1920, the same enumerator recorded Joseph Harding Keith as a roomer living at 1595 McClellan Avenue. During the enumerator’s first pass on January 6, residents were recorded at 1593 and 1597 McClellan Avenue but not 1595.
Bibliography
“27 Men Report for Physicals.” Suffolk News-Herald, July 15, 1942. https://www.newspapers.com/article/186732061/
“Catherine Rosa ‘Cass’ Krone Rotenberry.” Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/100292151/catherine-rosa-rotenberry
Census Record for Carl Keith. January 6, 1920. Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. Record Group 29, Records of the Bureau of the Census. National Archives at Washington, D.C. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRXC-864
Census Record for Joseph H. Dildine [sic]. April 16, 1930. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Record Group 29, Records of the Bureau of the Census. National Archives at Washington, D.C. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRZJ-5DR
Census Record for Joseph H. Keith. April 11, 1940. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Record Group 29, Records of the Bureau of the Census. National Archives at Washington, D.C. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9MR-HQBS
Census Record for Joseph Harding Keith. January 17, 1920. Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. Record Group 29, Records of the Bureau of the Census. National Archives at Washington, D.C. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9RXC-8LZ
Certificate of Death for Joseph Harding Keith. July 27, 1943. Record Group 1500-008-092, Death Certificates. Delaware Public Archives, Dover, Delaware. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSMB-LSM8-Q
Certificate of Death for Millard Kenneth Keith. October 6, 1912. Michigan Death Records, 1867–1952. Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics, Lansing, Michigan. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/60872/images/44471_354823-02472
Certificate of Marriage for Charles E. Rotenberry and Catherine R. Krone. November 1948. Record Group 1500-008-093, Marriage Certificates. Delaware Public Archives, Dover, Delaware. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-6P2S-RLM
Certificate of Marriage for Joseph H. Keith and Myrtle A. Dunnavant. August 12, 1935. North Carolina Marriage Records, 1741–2011. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4T-KDS1
Certificate of Marriage for Joseph Harding Keith and Catherine Rosa Krone. July 1942. Record Group 1500-008-093, Marriage Certificates. Delaware Public Archives, Dover, Delaware. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-61N9-X57
Draft Registration Card for Carl Keith. September 12, 1918. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918. National Archives at Washington, D.C. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-81DR-L73
Draft Registration Card for Joseph Harding Keith. October 16, 1940. Draft Registration Cards for Virginia, October 16, 1940 – March 31, 1947. Record Group 147, Records of the Selective Service System. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSZX-NGHZ
“Gladyn E ‘Lucky’ Lundquist.” Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/32714157/gladyn-e-lundquist
“Jesse Arthur Keith.” Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/113067668/jesse-arthur-keith
“Joseph Harding Keith.” Journal-Every Evening, July 27, 1943. https://www.newspapers.com/article/186697222/
“Millard Kenneth Keith.” Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/285934165/millard-kenneth-keith
“Mrs. Mabel R. Dildine.” The Virginian-Pilot, February 21, 1961. https://www.newspapers.com/article/186753810/
Official Military Personnel File for Joseph H. Keith. Official Military Personnel Files, 1885–1998. Record Group 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri.
“Report of Changes Patients of Naval Hospital, Bainbridge, Maryland for the month ending 31st. day of July, 1943.” July 31, 1943. Muster Rolls of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Other Naval Activities, January 1, 1939 – January 1, 1949. Record Group 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel. National Archives at College Park, Maryland.
“Train Kills Tot Near Royal Oak.” The Detroit Free Press, October 5, 1912. https://www.newspapers.com/article/186755158/
Last updated on December 30, 2025
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