Joseph Xavior Voll

FIREMAN FIRST CLASS JOSEPH X. VOLL was born January 18, 1925 to John C. Voll Jr. and his wife, Anna M. Voll. John C. Voll Jr. was a fireman for many years with the City of Camden. Joseph X. Voll was the third of five children, coming after Charles F. and John C. III and before Raymond and Mary. John C. Voll was appointed to the Camden Fire department in 1925. In April of 1930, when the census was enumerated, the family was living in suburban Bellmawr. Within a year they moved back to Camden, residing at 1109 North 26th Street. By 1940 the Volls had moved to 1142 North 24th Street and by 1945 at 2737 Garfield Avenue in the Cramer Hill neighborhood, a short walk from Engine Company 11 of the Camden Fire Department.

Joseph Xavier Voll joined the United States Navy on July 21, 1942. In April of 1943, he is known to have been transported aboard the USS Barnegat AVP-10, a seaplane tender, to the Naval Air Station NAS Argentia in Argentia, Newfoundland, Canada.  

On December 13, 1944 Fireman First Class Joseph X. Voll was recorded as one of the original members of USS Caswell AKA-72, a Tolland-class attack cargo ship of the United States Navy named after Caswell County, North Carolina. Like all AKAs, Caswell was designed to carry military cargo and landing craft, and to use the latter to land weapons, supplies, and Marines on enemy shores during amphibious operations.

Caswell, a Type C2-S-AJ3 ship, was launched on October 24, 1944 by North Carolina Shipbuilding Co., Wilmington, North Carolina, under a Maritime Commission contract; sponsored by Mrs. W. H. Williamson; acquired by the Navy on November 27, 1944; and commissioned on December 13, 1944, Lieutenant Commander P. M. Diffley, USNR, in command. 

Caswell left port on January 16, 1945 bound for Panama and Guadalcanal. Sadly, Joseph X. Voll did not sail with his ship. He was killed in an accident at Riverton, New Jersey on January 12, 1945, less than a week short of his 20th birthday. His body was taken to the Philadelphia Naval Hospital prior to his burial on January 19, 1945 at the Beverly National Cemetery in Beverly, New Jersey. Joseph X. Voll was survived by his parents and siblings, of the Garfield Avenue address

Older brother Charles F. Voll served for over 20 years as a Camden policeman after returning from World War II.