WWII vet receives county honors
<p>A World War II veteran from Westchester received honors from the county Thursday during Executive Rob Astorino's State of the County address. Armando Galella was an Army private stationed in Pearl Harbor during the Japanese sneak attack on Dec. 7, 1941. </p>
News 12 Staff
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Apr 22, 2017, 12:08 AM
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Updated 2,567 days ago
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A World War II veteran from Westchester received honors from the county Thursday during Executive Rob Astorino's State of the County address.
Armando Galella was an Army private stationed in Pearl Harbor during the Japanese sneak attack on Dec. 7, 1941. The attack killed 2,403 people.
"I just got through breakfast -- vroom, vroom, vroom!" Galella recounts. "You could see the red circles, and I said 'Oh my God we're under attack.'"
Astorino, the county executive, presented Galella with Westchester's Distinguished Service Award. Then the audience gave the veteran a standing ovation.
At Galella's home, he's converted his dining room into what he calls a memory room -- decorated with pictures and keepsakes from throughout his life.
Among those items is a photograph of John Horan, who died at Pearl Harbor and had been one of Galella's neighbors in Sleepy Hollow.
Sixty-one years after his service in WWII, Galello received a Bronze Star from Rep. Nita Lowey.
Now, the 96-year-old who's also known as "Chick" says he wants to make sure the memory of his generation's sacrifices lives on.
"If there is anything I can do for the fellas that served in World War II, there's nothing I wouldn't do," he says.
