Paul Galanti

Paul Edward Galanti (born July 11, 1939) is a retired Commander in the United States Navy and Naval Aviator. He served on active duty from 1962 to 1982. He was a Prisoner of War from 1966 to 1973 during the Vietnam War serving 2,432 days in confinement. He was also a member of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, and the 2nd commissioner of the Virginia Department of Veterans Services.

Career Galanti grew up in an Army family. He graduated from Valley Forge Military Academy in 1957 and the U. S. Naval Academy in 1962, where he was the president of his class. Upon graduation, he immediately entered Navy flight training at Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida. Following completion of advanced jet training in November 1963, he became a jet flight instructor in Pensacola as a Selective Retrained Graduate (SERGRAD) of flight training. The following year, he completed fleet replacement training in the A-4 Skyhawk at Attack Squadron 125 (VA-125) at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California.

In November 1964, he joined Attack Squadron 216 (VA-216), home based at NAS Lemoore. The squadron was part of a carrier air wing aboard the aircraft carrier, , which departed for Southeast Asia in November 1965. Galanti flew 97 combat missions in his A-4C Skyhawk before being shot down and captured on June 17, 1966. He remained a prisoner of war of the North Vietnamese for nearly seven years and was released on February 12, 1973. Joining the Medical Society of Virginia staff in September 1991, Galanti became the executive vice president of the society on January 1, 1993.

In 2000, he was the Virginia campaign director for Senator John McCain's presidential bid.

Galanti appeared on the covers of Life (October 20, 1967) and Newsweek (February 26, 1973) and in the August 19, 1999 issue of Time. Selling Power highlighted his success story in a six-page motivation section, "Never Give Up, Never Give In", in its May/June 1996 issue. It also chose him as one of the twelve outstanding motivators in the United States in September 1996.

In 2019, he was awarded the Lone Sailor Award.

Family He was married to the former Phyllis Eason, who died on April 23, 2014. He has two sons.