TEN EYCK D. VEEDER, JR., LT, USN

Teneyck Veeder, Jr. '19

Date of birth: July 7, 1895

Date of death: May 29, 1925

Age: 29

Lucky Bag

From the 1919 Lucky Bag:

Ten Eyck DeWitt Veeder, Jr.

Warrenton, Virginia

TED's name is Dutch, but at times we've embraced the fleeting idea that he had a little Scotch in him. He is the most unassuming member of the "one of the boys" gang, but with half an eye anyone can see by the easy savoir faire with which he does things that he's "been around some." Many and varied, true and otherwise, are the yarns told about that gang on liberty; Norfolk and Newport News being especially discussed. From all accounts their doings would make wonderful material for a movie director who craves action and lots of it.

To get back to our young hero, we've been able to unearth only one difference of opinion he's ever had with our friends of the Discipline Department; they look askance at his intimate relations with Old Lady Fatima. Yes, he's been rocked asleep several nights by the motion of the old Reina, as the seas broke over her bows.

On the whole, he has solved the riddle of keeping off the pap, and the solution after all is very simple; it is to keep your mouth dogged down at all times. Nobody ever heard Ted telling wild tales, either on others or on himself.

Our boy Teddy is certainly a blood of rare hue. He looks it, acts it, and every time he signs his name, it is impressed upon you. If this last idea seems to be rather obscure, don't start to think that we've got sand in our gear-box, but just look at that young alphabet which goes to make up his initials. To those among us who may have aspirations to attache duty, we would invite attention to young Veeder. You've got to step out to acquire a distingue air that'll beat his. Hot stuff, we're here to state!

Honors: One Stripe; Crew Squad 4.

The Class of 1919 was graduated on June 6, 1918 due to World War I. The entirety of 2nd class (junior) year was removed from the curriculum.

Ten Eyck DeWitt Veeder, Jr.

Warrenton, Virginia

TED's name is Dutch, but at times we've embraced the fleeting idea that he had a little Scotch in him. He is the most unassuming member of the "one of the boys" gang, but with half an eye anyone can see by the easy savoir faire with which he does things that he's "been around some." Many and varied, true and otherwise, are the yarns told about that gang on liberty; Norfolk and Newport News being especially discussed. From all accounts their doings would make wonderful material for a movie director who craves action and lots of it.

To get back to our young hero, we've been able to unearth only one difference of opinion he's ever had with our friends of the Discipline Department; they look askance at his intimate relations with Old Lady Fatima. Yes, he's been rocked asleep several nights by the motion of the old Reina, as the seas broke over her bows.

On the whole, he has solved the riddle of keeping off the pap, and the solution after all is very simple; it is to keep your mouth dogged down at all times. Nobody ever heard Ted telling wild tales, either on others or on himself.

Our boy Teddy is certainly a blood of rare hue. He looks it, acts it, and every time he signs his name, it is impressed upon you. If this last idea seems to be rather obscure, don't start to think that we've got sand in our gear-box, but just look at that young alphabet which goes to make up his initials. To those among us who may have aspirations to attache duty, we would invite attention to young Veeder. You've got to step out to acquire a distingue air that'll beat his. Hot stuff, we're here to state!

Honors: One Stripe; Crew Squad 4.

The Class of 1919 was graduated on June 6, 1918 due to World War I. The entirety of 2nd class (junior) year was removed from the curriculum.

Loss

Ted was lost on May 29, 1925 when he died of carbon monoxide poisoning shortly after landing his aircraft at Naval Air Field Anacostia, Washington, D.C.

From Arlington National Cemetery.net:

NAVAL AVIATOR DIES AS HE SAFELY ALIGHTS
Lieutenant Veeder Slumps in Seat When Plane Reaches Capital from Hampton Roads
WASHINGTON, May 29, 1925 – Lieutenant Theodore W. Veeder of the Naval Air Service died today as the plane in which he made a flight from Hampton Roads, nearly 200 miles away, touched the ground at the Anacostia Naval Air Field, Washington.
An observer who was with Lieutenant Veeder and spectators on the field saw the young officer slump in his seat as the plane came to a standstill just in front of the hangar. Lieutenant Guy Fish of the Medical Corps reached the scene in a few minutes, but Lieutenant Veeder was dead.
Surgeons were unable to ascertain the cause of Lieutenant Veeder’s death. A special board of inquest to investigate will meet tomorrow. One theory suggested was that the death resulted from carbon monoxide gas. The observer who flew with Lieutenant Veeder said he saw nothing unusual about the officer’s management of the machine.
The manner in which Lieutenant Veeder made the landing showed that he maintained full control practically up to the moment that he died. Dr. James Lyon, one of the physicians summoned, said that a peculiar feature of the case was that Veeder’s heart continued to beat after he had stopped breathing.
NAVAL INQUIRY BEGINS ON AVIATOR’S DEATH; LIEUTENANT VEEDER’S FAMILY BLAME MONOXIDE GAS
WASHINGTON, May 30, 1925 – A Naval Court of Inquiry today began an investigation into the sudden death of Lieutenant Ten Eyck De Witt Veeder, Jr., Naval Aviator, who collapsed yesterday at the Naval Air Field at Anacostia, opposite the Washington Navy Yard, just as his plane, in which he had flown from Hampton Roads, Virginia, came to a standstill.
All the circumstances of the case indicate that the young officer, steeped in service tradition by heredity and experience, clung to life until the last in order to save Richard Barthelmess, a passenger in the machine, who is working on a film dealing with the Navy at Annapolis and Norfolk.
Members of Lieutenant Veeder’s family reject the theory advanced that he died of heart failure. They are inclined to the view that his death was due to inhaling carbon monoxide gas. The Court of Inquiry will seek to determine the cause of death. It will not make its report until next week.
Mr. Barthelmess did not know his pilot was ill until the plane came to a halt at the air field. Information last night that Lieutenant Veeder died instantly proved to be erroneous. He was taken to the Naval Hospital in Washington and died about two hours later without regaining consciousness.
Lieutenant Veeder was the son of the late Commodore Ten Eyck De Witt Veeder of the Navy, who was born in New York and appointed to the Naval Academy from that State. His mother, who was Miss Mary Greene of Savannah, Georgia, resided at 1734 P Street, Washington.
Lieutenant Veeder was born July 7, 1895 in Virginia, where his maternal grandmother, a resident of Savannah, had a country place. He received an at-large appointment to the Naval Academy.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

His father graduated from the Naval Academy in 1873. His mother was Pauline, and his brothers were William (’25) who retired a Rear Admiral in 1955, and Charles who died in 1970. His sisters were Suzanne, Mary, Aminta “Minnie,” and Anne.

Though unable to find results of Court of Inquiry, must assume it determined that his loss was operational in nature.

He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.

The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.

The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.