This POW from Philly has dedicated his life to speaking up for vets
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Left to right: Former POW Ralph Galati and an old newspaper clipping about his return home. Photos: Courtesy of Ralph Galati
Before leaving for the Vietnam War, Philadelphian Ralph Galati warned his pregnant wife that a knock at the door signaled bad news — one that'd come days after she delivered their child.
Why it matters: Galati endured 14 months of torture, interrogation and deprivation as a POW in Hanoi in the early 1970s — and has dedicated his life since to advocating for fellow veterans.
Driving the news: The 77-year-old retired Air Force officer is serving as grand marshal of the Philadelphia Veterans Day Parade on Sunday.
- He'll smile and wave to scores of attendees, but his mind will be on nearly 81,000 American troops still MIA from previous wars.
- "For those that fought for it, freedom has a flavor that the protected will never know," Galati, who received a Silver Star for his gallantry, tells Axios.
The intrigue: A new documentary on Galati's life, produced by American Veterans Media, is also screening tonight at Saint Joseph's University.
- It's the latest way Galati is speaking out since returning home.
Flashback: Because the Vietnam War was unpopular with the public, many returning soldiers were regarded contemptuously when they got home.
- But as a celebrated POW, Galati says his experience was different. That motivated him to honor fellow vets who didn't receive the same warm embrace he did.
Feb. 16, 1972: That's the day Galati and a co-pilot were forced to parachute from their F4 jet fighter after it was struck by enemy fire while flying a mission over North Vietnam.
- They were soon captured and driven to a POW camp in Hanoi. There, he was held in isolation in rat-infested cells, sleeping on a small concrete slab with a thin bamboo mat.
- Galati suffered beatings and was deprived of food and water. When prisoners ate, they were often given food filled with maggots, tactics he says are meant to break their spirits and make them easier to interrogate.
- For some time, Galati's family didn't know whether he was alive.
"When you've lost all your freedoms, all you can control is the air you breathe," he tells Axios. "My mission was resistance."
Fast forward: After his release, Galati called home for the first time from a U.S. base in the Philippines. He remembers his wife asking him what he wanted to eat when he returned to the U.S.
- The proud Italian American was surprised by his own answer: A McDonald's hamburger.
The bottom line: Back home, 10 days later, another knock came at the serviceman's door.
- It was a McDonald's manager, gifting Galati with coupons for 1,000 hamburgers. The catch? He had to use them in 24 days.
"I'm very fond to this day of McDonald's," he says. "And happy to be alive every stinking day."