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Veteran Story: Daniel Hodgson

Maggie L Walker National Historic Site, Richmond National Battlefield Park

Daniel Hodgson does carpentry on a ship with two other Seabees. — Hodgson and team work onboard a navy vessel.
Courtesy Daniel Hodgson

Daniel Hodgson retired as a master chief from the U.S. Navy after a career as a Seabee. He is proud to be counted among those who served. Hodgson retired with a number of awards including the Navy Commendation Medal. Today he works at Richmond National Battlefield Park and Maggie Walker National Historic Park as a facility manager.

While serving in Desert Storm, Hodgson was assigned as a crew chief loading thousands of 500-lb bombs onto reactivated WWII liberty ships and storing them securely for transport. On a particularly rough weather day, while the ship was moored at the pier, a pallet of four bombs fell from the loading crane and into the hold where Hodgson and his crew were working. Luckily, the bombs did not have the detonators attached. “We discovered that it is true that without the detonator, the bombs won’t go off,” he reflected.

Daniel Hodgson in National Park Service uniform — Daniel Hodgson
Courtesy Daniel Hodgson

Transitioning to a career in the National Park Service made sense to Hodgson in part because of the NPS’s roots with the military. On a personal level, it was an opportunity “to stand again in a uniform that is respected” and in a position that serves the country. He says that the leadership skills he developed in the Seabees have served him well in his second career with the National Park Service.