Ships
- USS Tern (AM-31) Lieutenant (junior grade), 20 January 1944 – 12 June 1944
William Earl Hummel, a lieutenant (junior grade), commanded Tern from 20 January 1944 to 12 June 1944. NavSource gives the name, the rank, and the dates.
Birth, home, and family were not found.
No academy class and no earlier ship are on the line. He relieved Lieutenant Herbert James Perry, Jr.
Tern was in Hawaiian waters with a service squadron, recovering training torpedoes, towing targets for bombing and gunnery, and assisting other ships. On 15 May 1944, during his tour, her designation changed from AT-142 to an old ocean tug. NavSource writes that hull AT(O)-142. DANFS writes ATO-142. He was relieved on 12 June 1944, before she joined the convoy that sailed for the Marshalls on 9 July. The history gives no separate incident with his name on it.
No later command or date of death was found.