Kansas veteran inspired by family to join military, keep hungry folks fed

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — With her father, grandfather, and brother in the military, Teressa Peart felt it was only natural she, too, would serve one day. She went to basic training at Perris Island, South Carolina, where she would stay for three years to keep hundreds of hungry folks fed.

“Three square meals and a cot, as they say … I got to cook for the recruits, and so, that was, it was good,” Peart said.

Working alongside a team of 40 food service specialists, Peart would be up well before the crack of dawn to start prepping hundreds of meals in a 15-hour shift.

“We went in like at 2 a.m. to prep for the recruits because we were prepping for 400-500,” Peart said.

As a cook with the 4th Battalion Mess Hall, Peart would train fellow women recruits how to cook from scratch.

“And then in the Marine Corps, you cooked from scratch. Everything, meatballs, meatloaf, anything you can imagine, it was all from scratch,” Peart said. “I am a breakfast person … I used to like to work the grill—pancakes, 200 pancakes on the grill, I loved it.”

After three years at Perris Island, Peart would be stationed at Mt. Fuji.

“The Marines actually do cold weather training at Mt. Fuji … so, to be able to experience, you know, their language, and their culture, and, it was just, it was great,” Peart said.

Teressa Peart (KSN Photo)

Teressa Peart (KSN Photo)

Whether in Japan or the States, Peart says her fellow Marines became her second family.

“I was 19, I was a new mother, his father and the other Marines, they took care of us,” Peart said. “They taught me how to drive, so they took care of me,” Peart said.

Peart says her time in the Marines helped her pursue her career goals. She worked 25 years as an avionics technician and now as the IAM District 70 Secretary-Treasurer.

“They instill in you, you do whatever it takes to get the job done, even as a cook, that’s what I did, you, you get the job done for the team, it was just something that I do,” Peart said. “I still do.”

In a bittersweet full circle moment, Peart says as of June 15, Parris Island will have deactivated the Fourth Recruit Training Battalion where she served.

If you want to nominate a veteran for our Veteran Salute, email KSN reporter Hannah Adamson at [email protected].