Armando Galella was born in January 1921 in New York, New York. When he was around four years old, he moved with his parents and his two older brothers to Tarrytown, New York to live with his grandfather. His father, who died when Galella was around five, was a tailor and his mother was a seamstress. They were poor, living in a mixed neighborhood, and subsisting on government handouts during the Great Depression. Galella delivered newspapers so the family could eat. But, he said, "everyone else was in the same boat." He graduated from high school in 1939 at 18 years old. Work was hard to come by, and the situation was worsened by the discrimination in his predominantly Irish village. Knowing the draft was looming, he went with four buddies to enlist in the Army, but was refused because he was underweight. He walked to a nearby store where he bought three bananas and gulped them down with water, then went back to the recruiting office. Agreeing to take him, the doctor said, "We'll put the rest on you when you get in the Army."

While he trained at Fort Slocum in New Rochelle, New York, Armando Galella could go home every weekend. After about a month, he shipped out of the Brooklyn Army Base on the USS Hunter Liggett (APA-14). Galella was making 17 dollars per month, and sending five dollars of it home to his mother. All the while they sailed, the recruits were kept busy "chipping paint." The ship traveled through the Panama Canal, and Galella got off briefly at Cristobal, Panama, then continued on to Fort McDowell on Angel Island in California. From there he deployed to Hawaii, was assigned to the 53rd Signal Maintenance Corps [Annotator's Note: cannot verify unit designation], and did KP or kitchen police, for 30 days. His company was retitled the 428th Signal Maintenance Corps [Annotator's Note: cannot verify unit designation], and Galella attended communications school where he learned to splice telephone cable, and hook up switchboards. He said the unit installed a complete telephone system for the island of Kauai, then returned to Hickam Field. Every Saturday the soldiers underwent barracks inspection, which started early, with each man standing at the foot of his bunk, dressed in clean uniforms and shined boots. The captain would closely inspect footlockers for orderliness, and pass his white-gloved hand under each bunk. After passing his first inspection on 6 December 1941, Galella was given a pass to go downtown.

On 7 December 1941, Armando Gelella rose early and with leave papers in hand, went to breakfast with a buddy who was to join him on his adventure. Just as they finished their meal, they heard explosions and saw planes marked with red circles in the air, bombing the harbor and Hickam Field. Galella said the attacks came wave after wave. He and his buddy were trained for emergencies, and reported to their respective stations. Galella went to the motor pool, loaded up, and bivouacked [Annotator's Note: set up a temporary camp] at the foot of an inactive volcano. He and his fellow soldiers took turns on guard duty; their password was "railroad" because the attackers, the Japanese, could not properly pronounce the letter "R." When they were allowed to return to base, Galella found his barracks destroyed, and bullet holes everywhere; Pearl Harbor was "completely destroyed" and smoking, and Hickam Field was a disaster. His buddy was killed by shrapnel that took off the back of his head. Galella said he would never forgive or forget: the Americans never had a chance to defend themselves, and he will go to his grave angry about what the Japanese did to his friends. [Annotator's Note: Galella weeps.]

Armando Galella's duties changed when he became battalion sergeant major, working at headquarters and answering only to the colonel. The group left Hawaii in 1944 for the invasions of Tinian and Saipan. Shortly after they arrived on Tinian, they were attached to the 1st Marine Division, and in the middle of March 1945, moved by troop transport to support the invasion of Okinawa. They lived in the hold of the ship for 15 days, waiting for the battleships to arrive. The men ate standing up, did their "private duty" in a trough, slept "four high," and got seasick. D-Day [Annotator's Note: the day of the invasion] was 1 April [Annotator's Note: 1 April 1945], and Galella's communications outfit went ashore three days after. They followed flamethrowers as they moved inland, and were stationed at Yontan Airfield. They covered everything that had to do with cables and communications, and worked under "terrible" conditions, such as sniper fire and a shortage of food. Galella later learned that everyone in his battalion had been awarded the Bronze Star [Annotator's Note: the fourth-highest award a United States service member can receive for a heroic or meritorious deed performed in a conflict with an armed enemy].

While on Tinian [Annotator's Note: Tinian, Mariana Islands], Armando Galella said the signal guys would go out on Ducks [Annotator's Note: DUKW; a semi-amphibious truck; know as the DUCK] and barter with the Navy, trading Japanese souvenirs for food. Galella praised the work of the Seabees [Annotator's Note: members of US naval construction battalions], building facilities quickly after Okinawa was secured. He recalled trading cans of beer to get his clothes washed on a rig the Seabees set up and ran for that purpose. His was not a combat unit, and Galella said they relied on the 25th Infantry [Annotator's Note: 25th Infantry Division], 27th Infantry [Annotator's Note: 27th Infantry Division] and the 1st Marine Division to protect them. He was on Okinawa until August 1945. When he had enough points to go home, he pointed that fact out to his colonel, adding that he'd been in the Pacific for five years; but the colonel argued that the war wasn't over. Galella retorted that the war was over for him, and he wanted to go home, and the colonel couldn't refuse him. He flew from Okinawa to Guam, and took a boat back to the United States. En route, he heard about the atomic bombs, and remarked that President Truman [Annotator's Note: Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States] should have sunk the entire island for causing the war. He asserted that many more lives would have been lost if the Americans had invaded Japan. The war ended while he was sailing under the San Francisco Bridge.

Armando Galella insists that the men and women in today's armed forces deserve the best Americans can give them, because they are the ones on the line, and he knows what they endure. When Galella got back to the United States, he was treated like a hero. His mother met him at the train, and it was an emotional reunion. [Annotator's Note: Galella cries.] His two brothers served in the European Theater of Operations and she saw them both come home, but died shortly after the war ended. Reflecting on the memories that stand out most for him, Galella revealed they were the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], and the invasion of Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan]. He joined the Army because he wanted to serve his country, and feels there is no bigger honor. Galella thinks all young people should have the military experience to become more compassionate, and learn to get along with other people. The war changed his life by teaching him to "live every golden minute." Galella does not want to be called a hero. Rather, he is a "survivor." He said the true heroes are under white crosses. He was very impressed with The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana], and thinks it important that it continues its work of telling the history of the greatest generation.