Donna Glielmi: A Data Systems Technician

By Mark Splitstone, Honor Flight Chicago Veteran Interview Volunteer

When Donna Glielmi and her fraternal twin sister were born in Chicago in 1955, her mother hadn’t known that she was pregnant with twins. Her parents had decided that if they had a girl her name would be Donna Jeanne, but when they had twin girls, they named one Donna and the other Jeanne. Her parents had seven children in six years, and because of the closeness in ages, Donna and her siblings were for a while all attending the same Catholic school. She says that when the oldest ones went to high school it seemed strange to not be all together.

Donna grew up in University Park, south of Chicago, and attended Crete-Monee High School. While she was aware of the turmoil regarding the Vietnam War while she was growing up, she didn’t follow it that closely. She doesn’t recall any friends who went away to the war. She did have some familiarity with the military because during World War II her father was in the Army and her uncle was in the Merchant Marine and the U.S. Navy. 

She didn’t know what she wanted to do after high school, but given the size of her family, she knew her parents wouldn’t be able to afford to send her to college. She doesn’t recall the thought process that led her there, but in 1973 she joined the U.S. Navy. She had taken a data processing class in high school and found it to be interesting; she wanted to do something similar in the Navy. She had hoped to become a data processor, but after she scored well in math and mechanics on the Navy’s aptitude tests, they asked her if she’d like to be a data systems technician. This would mean that she wasn’t just operating computers, which is what she thought she wanted to do, but also repairing them. The only catch was that because of all the extra training involved, it would mean a six-year commitment instead of the usual four. She thought it sounded interesting and signed up.

Donna and a friend from high school joined the Navy together on the buddy system and headed to Boot Camp at the Naval Training Center in Orlando, Florida. Basic Training was the same as it was for men, with the only differences being that their officers and sergeants were women; also he women didn’t train with guns since they weren’t allowed in combat. Basic was physically challenging. She recalls that several women dropped out and one even attempted suicide. While many women had difficulty with the rigors and discipline, she feels that having a strict father helped her adapt. When she graduated, her parents came to Florida for her graduation, and afterwards they all went to Disney World.

After Boot Camp, Donna went to California for additional training. Some of it was in San Diego and the rest took place at Mare Island near San Francisco. Donna learned about basic electronics as well as repairing display equipment used for navigation. Her training and all her future Navy work was with hardware rather than programming, but in order to troubleshoot the hardware, she also had to understand the software. She liked logic problems, so troubleshooting was a great fit for her. After her training was complete, she was stationed at Point Loma near San Diego. 

After two years at Point Loma, Donna was transferred to Virginia Beach where she studied anti-submarine warfare for two months. In order to be allowed to learn about the Navy’s methods of tracking Soviet subs, Donna received top secret clearance. She worked with a squadron of P-3 Orion surveillance aircraft which would collect information about Soviet submarines, including location and type of sub. This information was then fed to high-tech equipment back at the base, which would translate the data and attempt to determine a clear picture of what was happening at any given point in time. Donna’s role was to maintain this equipment. 

With her newly-acquired knowledge of anti-submarine warfare, Donna was then transferred to the U.S. Naval Air Station Cubi Point in the Philippines. She had never been out of the country, so the Philippines were fairly exotic for her. She greatly enjoyed her time there but the weather was sometimes challenging. At one point, there was a record-breaking three month stretch where they had 87 inches of rain. She was the first woman at that command, and that, combined with working on computer hardware which was generally a man’s world, made the transition a bit challenging. Some of the men weren’t happy that she ended up as the senior supervisor in the shop. She persevered and recalls being named the “sailor of the quarter” in 1978. She also once received a commendation for repairing a radar problem on the USS John F. Kennedy, which was especially impressive because she hadn’t been trained on that particular piece of equipment. 

In addition to the anti-submarine warfare, her squadron also helped rescue the Vietnamese boat people. After the Vietnam War ended, hundreds of thousands of people fled the country, with the peak of the exodus occurring in the late 1970’s when Donna was in the Philippines. When the squadron of P-3’s spotted a refugee boat, they’d drop sonobuoys with supplies and a note telling the people that a rescue ship was on the way. Many of the refugees ended up at a camp on the Subic Bay Base. She says she can’t believe that these refugees would get on boats not knowing where they’d end up. She liked that her team was able to do so much good for people. 

While she was stationed in the Philippines, she began dating a fellow sailor named Tom. They were both nearing a time when they’d be transferred, so they asked to be transferred to the same place. The Navy said they only do that for married people, so they got married in the Philippines in 1979. They went back and asked again to be transferred to the same place, but when they received their orders, Tom was to be stationed in Hawaii and Donna in Maine. Because they couldn’t get it worked out, they decided to leave the Navy in 1980, Tom after five years and Donna after seven. She was offered the opportunity to move up through the officer ranks, but given her personal situation, she declined. 

Tom and Donna moved to New Hampshire, where she began working in a variety of technology roles. Over the years she worked for an oil and gas company, telecommunications firm, and even a school district. The one thing all these roles had in common was that her Navy experience was a great help to her. Donna wanted to go to college.  In order to take advantage of the extensive veterans benefits, she moved back to Illinois. Much of her Navy experience counted towards her degree so she was able to graduate quickly, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science in 1987. After graduation, Donna, Tom, and their young daughter moved back to New Hampshire. She eventually ended up working in the civil service at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. 

In 2008, Donna moved back to the Chicago area and worked in the civil service at the Great Lakes Naval Station until 2011. She now lives in the Chicago area, and her roommate is her twin sister Jeanne. Her daughter and her two grandsons still live in New Hampshire and she visits them when she can. Donna owns a travel trailer and she’s looking forward to a post-COVID world when she can begin traveling again. She’s excited about her upcoming Honor Flight, especially since she’ll be going with her older sister who served in the Marines. She really enjoyed her time in the Navy, and when people say “Thank you for your service” she replies, “I’m glad to have served.” 

Thank you for your dedicated service to your country, Donna.  Enjoy your well-deserved day of honor as part of “Operation Her Story.”