A Service Mission from the Mainland

By Katie McFadden

For U.S. Army veteran Brian Galarza, Commander of Rockaway’s American Legion Daniel M. O’Connell Post 272, helping fellow veterans is a mission he’s dedicated to for those close to home, and those who are sometimes forgotten. Recently, the focus was put on veterans at a VA hospital in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.

Being a territory off the mainland, some may not think of the U.S. veterans of Puerto Rico, but the U.S. territories in the Caribbean are home to roughly 90,000 veterans. Galarza hasn’t forgotten. As a fleet service clerk for American Airlines at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Galarza is an active member of Transit Workers Union Local 501 and serves as International Veterans Committee Chair for the union. Galarza often assists with dignified transfers for traveling veterans and fallen soldiers who pass through the airport, but as chair of the International Veterans Committee, his mission extends beyond New York.

TWU Local 501’s recent Transport Workers Union Veteran’s Committee first quarterly meeting was held in San Juan, PR, where veteran members of Local 501 and Orlando’s Local 555 gathered. A part of these quarterly meeting trips, often to other states, is to conduct a service project. This time, it was decided that the January meeting would be held in Puerto Rico. “A lot of the veterans there feel unwanted by the mainland. But we are the mainland, so we decided to go there,” Galarza said.

In September, the union put out a call for donations of things like socks, toiletries, shampoo, blankets with American flags and other useful supplies, made easy to order through an Amazon registry, which were sent straight to the VA hospital in San Juan.

On Monday, January 12, the veteran union members arrived in San Juan and spent time splitting up the supplies into about 80 bags. On Tuesday, they held their quarterly meeting, and on Wednesday, they spent time visiting the veterans at the San Juan VA and distributed the gifts to veterans being treated at the hospital including some who are blind, bedridden and wheelchair bound.

Galarza said it was an emotional experience. “A lot of these TWU veterans that went to visit were emotional. They have fathers and uncles who served and they themselves are veterans, and we’re all gonna get there one day. We hope no one forgets us, so we don’t forget them,” he said. Galarza even had a special visit with a fellow TWU Local 501 member and former American Airlines worker, who prepared for the visit when he heard who was coming to the hospital. “I was told to go into a certain room and there was a veteran wearing a Local 501 jacket that he preserved for 20 years and an American Airlines hat. Fleet Service Agent Johnny Acevedo worked at JFK and SJU as a ramper. The experience was very emotional because he said that we were the only ones from the TWU that has visited him since he arrived at the VA. The director told me that he wore his jacket for the Union visit,” Galarza said.

Overall, the mission, which they called Operation Roberto Clemente, after famous Puerto Rican baseball player and former U.S. Marine, was a success. “What an emotional impact. It was very humbling,” Galarza said.