Gunnery Sergeant William Galdiano

I didn't get to really know Willie while we were in high school. I knew of him and always greeted him with an upward jerk of the head, the usually way we acknowledged anyone, whenever I saw him on campus. The first time I ever got into a conversation with him was at the Military Entrance Processing Station in the Prince Kuhio Kalanianaole Federal Building in downtown Honolulu. A couple of weeks after graduating from Aiea High School, we were both being sworn-in as Marine recruits. I didn't know he was enlisting, too! I knew what to expect in bootcamp and Willie also looked like he knew, too. He always had that confident look on his face whenever I saw him on campus. There were other people being processed that day. Three other guys were enlisting in the Corps, and a few others were joining the other services. But they looked scared and unsure of themselves. But not Willie and I. We were ready for whatever challenges lay ahead of us.

June 18, 1981, the day we shipped out to San Diego, Marine Corps Recruit Depot, was the day we formed a bond. We became brothers-in-arms, on a mission to become United States Marines. We had the red-eye flight to San Diego. Our friends and family were there at the airport to bid us farewell and good luck. On one side of the departure gate were my friends and family. On the other side were Willie's friends and family. As we walked away from our friends and family toward the jetway, we nodded. He said, "Let's go for broke!" invoking the famous 101st Bn., 442 Regimental Combat Team warrior cry. I said, "Shoots, brah!" back at him.

Sunny San Diego was surely beautiful but it would be a long 13 weeks before we would be allowed to depart MCRD. In-processing was organized chaos. Filling out more papers, taking more tests, getting our uniform issue, all in the first 48 hours. I don't think we ever slept a wink in the first 24. I thought for sure we would be in the same platoon, but we were separated. He was in platoon 2044 and I got placed in platoon 2045. At least we were in the same Fox Company.

We got what we expected in bootcamp. Tough discipline, drill instructors yelling, and lots of conditioning drills. We did what we were told, quickly and correctly, else we would be doing push-ups, sit-ups, bends and thrusts, or what ever the drill instructors told us to do. I rarely had any contact with Willie. It was only during meals at the dining facility where I would see Willie and only then would we could have a short conversation.

After bootcamp we went our separate ways. Willie got the logistics and supply field and I was sent to 29 Palms for communication-electronics school. It would be a long time before I would see and catch-up with Willie. He was a reservist, I was on active duty. He went home after all of his training and drilled once a month and two weeks in the summer. I rarely got to see Willie while I was stationed at Kaneohe. Only on a few occasions would I have a chance meeting with Willie. It was either at the Pearlridge shopping mall, Times Supermarket or at the airport sending off Jon Endo to Army bootcamp.

A few years later when I was an instructor at the communication-electonics school I would meet his two younger brothers, Jerry and Roger, at two different times, but at the same place on the 29 Palms Marine Base. Jerry was stationed there with the infantry regiment and Roger was there later for communications school. The gym was a popular gathering place for young Marines. Joining the Marines weren't the only thing in common with the Galdiano brothers. Lifting weights was also a common interest. It was there that I could catch-up with Jerry and Roger and they would tell me how Willie was doing.


After I retired from the Marines I returned to Hawaii in 2004. I met up with Willie, exchanged phone numbers and promised to get the guys together for a barbeque. It was difficult to coordinate because we all had difficult work schedules. Rob Ching had the fireman schedule. Frank Motas had a different schedule. Melvin Camarillo and Jose Ramones... MIA. Willie was able to meet but we needed all of the guys together. Our plan didn't come together before I moved to Seoul at the end of that year.

Earlier this year I reconnected with Willie's brother Jerry on Classmates. It was then that Jerry informed me of Willie's death. I am deeply saddened and regret not being able to get the guys together with Willie. We would have had a great time catching up.

It took some effort to find his obituary but I found it in the Star Bulletin archives:

William A. Galdiano
Jan. 4, 2006
William A. "Gunny" Galdiano, 42, of Waipahu, a general contractor and U.S. Marine Corps veteran, died in St. Francis-West Medical Center. He was born in Paoay, Ilocos Norte, the Philippines. He is survived by wife Lourdes B. Acdal-Galdiano, son Mark, parents Melchor T. and Dionicia, brothers Roger and Jerry, and sisters Mila Embry and Nora Galdiano. Services: 6 p.m. Wednesday at St. Elizabeth Church, 99-312 Moanalua Road, Aiea. Call after 6 p.m. Mass: 11:30 a.m. Thursday at St. Elizabeth Church. Burial: 1 p.m. at Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery, Kaneohe.

Jerry said that his Last Will and Testament contained instructions for his burial services. He was dressed in his Marine Corps Dress Blue uniform. He was truly one of The Few, The Proud. Once a Marine, Always a Marine.

Semper Fidelis, my brother.