The Galvans: A Band of Three Brothers

By Charles Souhrada, Honor Flight Chicago Veteran Interview Volunteer

Growing up, the Galvan brothers, Manny, Felix, and Lu, did almost everything together. As young adults, all three entered the military and served during Vietnam – sometimes even in the same village. On Wednesday, May 11, this energetic, funny, and heroic band of biological brothers, along with their childhood friend, Charlie “Chuy” Villanova, will share one more experience when all of them will join Honor Flight Chicago’s 101st flight to Washington, D.C. 

“We owe a lot of credit to our mom and dad,” says Manny, the eldest of the three. “They deserve our thanks and gratitude for everything they did for us!” 

The Galvan brothers were all born in Chicago and grew up on the Near West Side with their dad Felix Sr., who worked for the Northwestern Railroad, and mom, Guadalupe, who worked in a factory. Sisters Gigi, Stephanie and Delores, and a host of aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors, and friends, chipped in to guide the boys and tried to keep them out of mischief. 

The three boys attended Holy Guardian Angel Catholic School. As kids, they  spent free time roller skating at the Hull House Recreation Center, visiting the city’s museums – which were all free at the time – and watching movie after movie after movie at the Star and Garter Theater on West Madison. 

“Our dad taught us how to swim at the 12th Street Beach,” Felix remembers. “He took us out there the first time and threw us in the water, laughing his ass off the whole time!” One time, the boys “borrowed” their dad’s shoe shine kit and headed over to Maxwell Street to make their fortune. Unfortunately, they gave up the enterprise after earning one, lonely dollar. “It seemed like a lot of money at the time, and it was!” says Manny. “After all, everything cost a nickel.” 

The brothers even remember riding their prized Schwinn bikes, decked out with banana seats and sissy bars, up and down parts of what would later become the Eisenhower, or I-290 expressway which was being constructed in the middle of their neighborhood between 1949 and 1961. The project displaced an estimated 13,000 people, including the Galvan family, which moved to west suburban St. Charles in 1959. 

In St. Charles, the brothers attended George E. Thompson High School, where all three joined the wrestling team and found more fuel for their entrepreneurial fires. The brothers delivered papers, mowed lawns, harvested earthworms for a penny per worm, washed cars for 10 cents a car plus tips, and even worked at a sawdust factory. Manny later found work assembling electronic plugs, then moved over to a pizza place where “everyone” worked – including some who delivered pizzas without the benefit of a driver’s license. To further illustrate the brothers’ ingenuity, Lu even bought a non-working 1962 MGB for $50 when he was 14 years old. He pushed it home, got it running with help from a neighbor, then resold it for $200.  

“We took advantage of everything we could get,” says Manny. “You were a rich man if you had folding money in your pocket!”

In 1968, Felix and Manny graduated from high school. Seven months later, Felix became the first of the three to enter the service. “I went in January, 1969,” he says. “The Vietnam War was going on and I really wanted to go into the Navy, because I thought it would help me avoid going there.” In typical military fashion, right after eight weeks of Boot Camp at Naval Station Great Lakes, Felix was sent to Da Nang in April, 1969. There, he was stationed on an LKA-94, an amphibious ship that carried ammunition and other supplies to bases along the rivers of Vietnam. On the ship, Felix served as a Boatswain’s Mate helping to load and unload cargo. “They called us ‘deck apes,’ the equivalent of a ‘grunt’ in the Marine Corps. You could not get any lower than us!” 

Felix went on to serve three tours in Vietnam, became a signalman and served on the USS Monticello (LSD-35) and the USS Winston (AKA-94/LKA-94). He was honorably discharged in January, 1973 with a Seaman’s rank, SM3, and three campaign stars. Felix tells “I was fed up and I got out about 10 days before the war ended.” 

Manny joined the service after a failed stint at Elgin Community College (ECC). “I thought me and my best friends were going to meet college girls and do the hippie life,” he says. “We enrolled at ECC and learned classes were in the basement of Elgin High School! I thought ‘This is not college! Where is Free Love?’ I went to ECC to learn 3D art, instead I got three “D’s” and a letter from Richard Nixon!” 

In February of 1969, one month after Felix entered the Navy, Manny joined the Army and reported for duty at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri. “This big sergeant comes by with a bucket and he says, ‘I know all you hoodlums from Chicago think you’re bad.’ He hands the bucket to a guy in the back and says, ‘Throw your m _ _ _ _ _ f_ _ _ _ _g guns in there, your knives, whatever you’ve got, we issue all that s _ _ t!’ All I could hear was clink, clink, clink, and I’m the only one who didn’t have a gun or a knife! I looked in the bucket and there was even a revolver in there! C’mon! I mean, who brings a gun to the Army?!?”   

After Basic, Manny began his tour of duty in Quy Nhon, a coastal city in Bình Định province in central Vietnam. Ironically his brother, Felix, was serving in the same village and neither brother knew it! There, Manny wound up driving for Colonel Huey P. Long, who led the II Corps area in Central Vietnam. “He liked me, gave me my E4 rank, and trusted me with his life.” 

In April 1970, Manny was driving a ¾ ton truck and got hit by another truck, breaking his back, ribs, and shoulder in the process. “The worst thing that could happen ended up being the best thing; I went back to Ft. Leonard Wood on light duty.” 

Meanwhile, back in St. Charles Lu graduated from high school in 1970 and was drafted into the Army in December, 1970. After Basic at Ft. Lewis, Washington, he was sent to Ft. Sill Army Base, Oklahoma, where he earned his military operation specialty (MOS) as a field artillery surveyor. “We’d clear off the top of a mountain, put four or five cannons on it and set them so they’d all be shooting in the same direction,” he says. “These guns shook the ground. The concussion from the air will kill you and turn your guts into jelly.” After a time, Lu was sent to Camp Evans, an Army and Marine Corps base northwest of Huế in central Vietnam, “seven clicks from the DMZ.” There, he became a mail clerk. “Everybody loved the mail clerk,” he says. “If you didn’t, your mail was tucked away in the back!” Lu explains that mail clerks also carried a civil servant classification which came with special privileges. “We had jeeps with ‘US Mail’ written across the front and since it was a Federal vehicle, you didn’t have to go through all the checkpoints. You’d just drive right through because it was a Federal vehicle. You couldn’t f _ _ k with the mail!” 

In 1972, Camp Evans began shutting down and Lu was sent to Saigon to replace another mail clerk. There, things were slow, and he arranged with the other mail clerks to work alternate days. Lu even had a close encounter with Bob Hope during his final visit to Saigon in December, 1972. “Bob Hope came in with his girls flying into Saigon airport. I saw this guy come running out of the back of the plane and run between these two Quonset huts. I said to my buddy, Howie, ‘I think that’s Bob Hope and he’s peeing between those two Quonset huts!’” When Hope finished his business, the soldiers had a brief conversation with the star who asked if they were coming to see his show. “Oh, I don’t think we’re allowed to go,” Lu remembers saying. “Hope said: ‘Well you’re going to see my show and you’re going to sit up front!’ Howie and I saw Bob Hope’s show and I think it was the last time he went there.” 

Back home in St. Charles, the Galvan parents were concerned about their sons’ welfare, but proud of the contributions they were making. “They were both Mexican immigrants and they believed in their country,” says Lu. “Mom was always worried, but she had the stars in her window, and she was proud of us. Manny and Lu wrote home often, but Felix admits he wasn’t as diligent. “She even wrote to the captain of my ship and asked him to tell me to write home because I never did,” he says. “They took me in front of him and he said ‘Write your mother! She’s telling me you never call, and you never write home, you never do anything! Write to your mother!’ He wasn’t too happy with me, but I wasn’t trying to be rude, we just went to so many places I couldn’t keep track!”  

As the three Galvan brothers left the service and returned to civilian life, each used their GI Bill benefits in varying ways. 

Manny was honorably discharged in January, 1971 and used the GI Bill to attend Arizona State University in Tempe, graduating in 1976 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. After teaching for seven years in Arizona, Manny returned to St. Charles where he worked as an artist with his daughter, Grace, on their joint venture, Parrallax Productions. 

Felix returned to St. Charles, took classes at ECC through the GI Bill, and built a career with Siemens as a designer. He’s been retired since 2013 and spends time with Kim, his wife of 44 years. He enjoys motorcycles, fishing, and their home on Lake Carroll.  

Lu married his wife, Pat, in October, 1973 and was honorably discharged two months later in December. After returning to St. Charles, he took classes at ECC, graduated, and joined Miner Enterprises, also in St. Charles, where he designed railroad cars and acquired multiple patents. Now retired, Lu spends his time helping to lead the Kishwaukee Air Club for radio control airplane enthusiasts. He enjoys fishing and watching his five grandchildren. 

The three brothers credit the advocates at the Kane County Veterans Assistance Commission, especially Jake Anderson, Nate Johnson, and Steve Wells, for helping them arrange their disability benefits. 

Manny, Felix, and Lu want to dedicate their Honor Flight experience in loving memory of their friends and family. In turn, the team at Honor Flight Chicago hope the Galvan brothers’ latest shared experiences are something to write home about!