Grandview WWII veteran returns to the ship he calls home

By Matt Evans

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    MOBILE, Alabama (KMBC) — When 99-year-old Ben Teevan tells a story, it’s a part of living history.

The Grandview WWII veteran served for nearly two years aboard the USS Alabama battleship in the war. He was a first loader on the ship that played an integral part in the Pacific Theater.

“To this day, I can still hear the casings flying out of the back of the mount and bouncing around,” Teevan said, recalling vivid details from his time aboard the ship 80 years ago.

Teevan often tells these stories when he has a special visitor, Grandview Fire Chief Rodney Baldwin.

“Knowing what the guys went through back then, it’s something we forget,” Baldwin said. “We forget how lucky we are.”

Teevan, who has been active in the Grandview community for years, has struck up a strong friendship with Baldwin over the past few years, partly because they’re both veterans. Baldwin served in the U.S. Army and knows how important these stories are.

“The greatest generation, you know, it’s going away quick,” he said. “There’s not many of them left, and there’s something we can learn from them.”

Those stories often revolve around Teevan’s time aboard the USS Alabama, a ship he still considers his home, even though he hasn’t seen it in years.

“She’s a dandy, believe me,” he said.

The USS Alabama, now, is a museum and a memorial for the thousands like Teevan who served on it.

And a few weeks ago, he returned home to a hero’s welcome.

As dozens gathered to cheer his arrival on the ship in Mobile, Teevan had trouble holding back tears.

“I made it,” he said. “It’s good to be home.”

One reason Teevan wanted to make this journey to the ship, is because it recently underwent more than $8 million in renovations to restore the deck to its former glory. He wanted to walk on the deck one final time.

“It’s good to see,” he said. “I know this trip will be my last.”

And for those aboard the USS Alabama, it might be the last time they see a crewman here.

“I never thought I’d actually physically see another crewman on this ship,” Bill Tunnell, USS Alabama Battleship Commissioner, said.

Out of the more than 6,000 who served aboard this ship during WWII, Teevan is one of just three still alive and the only one who is able to travel to Mobile.

“This is such a special day in our lives and in his life, too,” Tunnell said. “He will be the representative as probably the last living crewman to be able to visit the ship.”

That is history that Baldwin had to see for himself, which is why he helped bring Teevan all the way here from Grandview.

“He’s 20 years younger today,” Baldwin said as he smiled. “He’s got the energy to walk the deck. He’s got good color in his face, he’s got a good sense of purpose in his step.”

While Teevan had planned on this being his final visit to his ship, he started to reconsider just moments before he left.

“You know, I might just squeeze out another one,” he said while laughing.

That visit will probably happen, because you can never count out the determination of our Greatest Generation.

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