Veteran recalls Navy Service 40 years ago this Memorial Day

This Memorial Day, a U.S. Navy veteran from Local 801 will be remembering her father, who served in the Korean War, and the fellow sailors she served alongside aboard the U.S.S. Norton Sound 40 years ago.

Right photo: MNDOT's Teresa Chapman receives a promotion to Petty Officer Second Class from her Navy Commander at Port Hueneme, CA.

Region 8 Chief Steward Teresa Chapman, who grew up outside of the Washington, DC area, said, “One of my best friends worked at Bethesda Naval Hospital, known today as Walter Reed National Military Center. I liked the people she worked with, so I decided to join the Navy. I wanted to see other places and I thought it would be an adventure.”

“I couldn’t swim but I could float,” Chapman joked.  

Chapman was a radar operator and operations specialist while on active duty 1980-1984 and four years of Reserve duty following that. Chapman worked on the bridge of her ship and tested radar systems and missiles off the coast of Port Hueneme, 75 miles north of Los Angeles.

“Have you ever seen the movie ‘Hunt for Red October’? I worked in that area of the ship. We did radar scopes, used maneuvering boards, 360 degree compass rose and we measured everything out with parallel bars and pencils,” Chapman said.

She did the majority of her Reserves duty after moving to Minnesota, “We trained people on what it was like to be on a ship in a room in a building at Fort Snelling – we had a bridge of a ship and all of the rudimentary electronics. It was an old world-new world Naval Tactical Data System, which was the precursor to the geographic information system mapping technology I currently use in my job at the Dept. of Transportation [MNDOT].”

Chapman said she wouldn’t recognize the U.S. Navy of today. When she enlisted 40 years ago, women sailors weren’t even allowed on combat ships. On the U.S.S. Norton Sound, there were 400 enlisted sailors, 80 of whom were women. The women slept in one room in triple bunkbeds.   

Two months ago, she attended a women’s veterans conference in Maplewood and received a red, white and blue quilt of valor for her military service. “I would do it again,” Chapman said. “I encouraged my three kids to enlist but none of them did.”

Chapman co-chairs the Veterans Employee Resource Group at MNDOT. “A number of state agencies have them to look at veterans who are in transition from the military to the civilian world, and we help them transition to MNDOT.”     

Right and left photo: Local 801's Teresa Chapman displays a quilt of valor she received at a women veterans' conference earlier this year.   

Her naval training did prepare her well for her research position at MNDOT where she makes changes to the base map of all the roads in Minnesota, including maps for road construction.

Chapman is a former president of Local 801 and chief steward for her region. “I liked the idea of being there for people during a really difficult time in their lives. Going through an investigation is an awful experience and having someone there with you is just rewarding for me,” Chapman said.

She said she sees many similarities between her military and union experiences. “Both the military and the union want you to succeed in life. In boot camp they break you down, but after that, they want you to succeed and give you opportunities to excel at things.

Chapman continued, “I love the camaraderie that people have in the military and I see that in MAPE, too. There can be a lot of pride belonging to something bigger than you. What are you doing for the union? It’s all what people are willing to do to make changes, not sitting back and waiting for others to make changes. We are the union and I see that as a dynamic thing.”