Former POW rallies for McCain

Paul Galanti and John McCain have a bond that few can share as former POWs who spent years of captivity in Vietnam after being shot down while flying Navy planes.
But Galanti said that his respect for McCain is partially attributable to the way the Republican presidential candidate handled his return to the United States after being held more than five years as a prisoner of war.
“He has come through it with an incredibly positive attitude,” said Galanti, of Richmond, a retired Navy commander who leads Virginia Veterans for McCain. “When you are a POW, you are lower than in a Marine boot camp. You get beaten and tortured. He got through it and was an example for the rest of us. I never saw his smile go away.”
Galanti is scheduled to speak this morning in Staunton at the Staunton, Augusta County and Waynesboro Republican Breakfast.
Though he has appeared on the covers of Life as a POW and Newsweek with his wife after his release, Galanti more recently has been known for his role as a member of Swift Boat Veterans and POWs for Truth.
During the 2004 presidential campaign, that group gained notoriety for a series of ads sharply questioning Democrat John Kerry’s war record. Kerry was awarded three Purple Hearts, a Silver Star and a Bronze Star after serving four months as a swift boat commander in Vietnam. He became a spokesman for an anti-war group after returning home.
So successful was the Swift Boat Veterans campaign against Kerry that the group’s name has become a verb in the vernacular of politics, meaning to attack an opponent’s record. Swift Boat Veterans chafe at the term’s use, saying it belies their true intention in Kerry’s case, to raise legitimate questions about his claims.
Galanti said his opposition to Kerry particularly was sparked by the Massachusetts senator’s testimony to a Senate committee after his return from Vietnam.
“I remember a very patrician voice saying Americans were war criminals,” Galanti said. “He was up there telling the world we were war criminals. The Democrats have turned Swift Boat into a negative thing. But none of the things in those ads was wrong.”
No such questions arise in Galanti’s mind on the subject of McCain.
Galanti did not know McCain in Hanoi, but the two strengthened their friendship over years of POW reunions that started when President Nixon hosted one at the White House.
“Our paths just kept crossing,” said Galanti, whose parents lived in Mesa, Ariz., where McCain was their congressman in the early 1980s.
“My mother stuffed envelopes for McCain,” Galanti said.
McCain’s entry into the political arena was a surprise to Galanti. But, Galanti said, he since has learned that McCain follows his heart.
“I wondered why he wanted to be in politics. But he is a maverick who does what he thinks is right,” Galanti said. “I don’t always agree with him. But you have no doubt what he is interested in.”
Virginia is a key state for McCain in the November election, and Galanti is traveling the commonwealth to drum up support from veterans. He thinks vets will strongly back McCain.
“Veterans are funny people,” Galanti said. “They are quiet but very organized. When they have one of their own running, they will vote. Local elections, they don’t understand. But they pay attention to the commander-in-chief.”
Galanti said the respect of enlisted military personnel for McCain is genuine.
“The armed forces think he walks on water,” Galanti said. “Every time I’ve seen John with the armed forces, it’s not artificial. He’s one of them.”
Stephanie Marushia, of Virginia Beach, disagrees.
The retired Army veteran is marshaling support for Democratic nominee Barack Obama in Hampton Roads. Obama, Marushia said, has supported funding for military victims of traumatic brain injury. McCain, on the other hand, voted for the war but not for extra funding to take care of soldiers who went to Iraq, she said.
“A vote for Obama is one to save our soldiers’ lives,” said Marushia. McCain “has talked the talk but never backed it up.”
Long before his involvement in Swift Boat Veterans, Galanti was known to many as a hero after his return to Richmond in 1973 from six-and-a-half years of captivity. He received a Silver Star, two Legions of Merit for combat, the Bronze Star and the Meritorious Service medal
After obtaining a master’s degree at the University of Richmond, Galanti became the commanding officer of the Navy’s Richmond recruiting district.
His experience also includes serving as the executive director of the Virginia Pharmaceutical Association.
But fellow servicemen never have been far from his mind.
In recent years, Galanti helped raise about $1.5 million for the Families of the Wounded Fund. The fund helps families of wounded soldiers from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The soldiers are being treated at Richmond’s McGuire Veterans Hospital.
“It’s rewarding. I get choked up,” Galanti said.
He marvels over the recovery of many vets from devastating injuries.
“Some are in total comas,” he said, “and walk back to their reunions.”

Galanti visits
Retired Navy Cmdr. Paul Galanti, head of Virginia Veterans for McCain, is scheduled to speak this morning at the Staunton, Waynesboro and Augusta County Republican Breakfast at Kathy’s Restaurant in Staunton. The breakfast starts at 8 a.m. Also scheduled this morning are Dels. Chris Saxman, Ben Cline and Steve Landes and Staunton City Councilman Dickie Bell. The Staunton Republican Headquarters, at 123 Greenville Ave., will be opened after the breakfast.