James F. Galati

Date of Birth: 03/17/1945
Neighborhood: South Philadelphia
High School: Bishop Neumann High School
Street: S. 20th Street
Branch of Service: Navy
Rank: CN
Date of Casualty: 05/31/1968
Province of Casualty:
Philadelphia Memorial Panel: Panel 10
Panel Row: 11

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Galati was drawn to water — he was a sea-man in the Sea Scouts and a scuba diver but his first love was dancing. His mother said that he was considering a career as a dancer, having proved his talent in many amateur performances. His interests included listening to music, lifting weights and working out on a trampoline, a 1963 graduate of Bishop Neumann High School, Galati worked as an automotive machinist for the Marymore Auto Supply Store before joining the Navy in 1967. Galati found life aboard ship too confining and was assigned to a Search unit in Vietnam. A devout Roman Catholic, Galati never missed Mass despite the fighting that raged around the Navy and Marine installations in Da Nang, Quang Nani Province, The 23-year-old construction mechanic died in the Station Hospital at Da Nang on March 31, 1968, the day President Lyndon Johnson halted bomb-lug above the 20th Parallel in North Vietnam and said he would not seek re-election. He was survived by his parents and two sisters.

Philadelphia Vietnam Veterans Memorial