Galaszewski

STEUBENVILLE — Nearly 82 years after the death of U.S. Navy sailor Stanley Casmier Galaszewski during the attack on Pearl Harbor, the service member’s family will finally put him to rest in his hometown of Steubenville.

Galaszewski, a seaman 2nd class who served on the USS California during World War II, was 29 when he died on Dec. 7, 1941, after Japanese aircraft subjected the battleship to torpedo and bomb blasts. The California caught fire and flooded slowly, killing a total of 104 crewmen.

Deborah Conti, Galaszewski’s great-niece, recalled stories her grandmother, Galaszewski’s sister, used to tell about her brother. The two had been close, Conti said, and the news of the attack and Galaszewski being presumed dead was a blow to the family.

“My grandmother used to tell us she wished she could have brought him home,” Conti said.

Conti’s grandmother, Eva Garrison, died in 2002, but the hope of her brother’s return will finally be fulfilled today when Galaszewski’s remains are laid to rest in Mount Calvary Cemetery.

A funeral procession that will begin around 12:30 p.m. and travel along Sunset Boulevard will precede a burial ceremony with full military honors at 1 p.m.

Bishop Paul J. Bradley, apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Steubenville, will conduct the service.

Conti said Galaszewski will be buried next to his parents.

“(His family) wished they could’ve known what happened to him,” Conti said. “They knew he was on the USS California, and they knew he was never identified and presumed dead. We now know how he died and that he’s been identified, so we can bring him home.”

Galaszewski’s return has been long in the making, said Conti, who lives in the Cleveland area. It began as early as December 1941, when the Navy began to recover remains of the California’s crew.

A September 1947 effort by the American Graves Registration Service identified 39 crewmen. However, 25 service members, Galaszewski included, remained unknown and were later listed as non-recoverable. They were buried in the National Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, where Galaszewski’s name had been listed on the cemetery’s Wall of the Missing.

It wasn’t until the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency began its own identification efforts using anthropological analysis in 2018 that a breakthrough occurred. Using DNA samples, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner were able to positively identify Galaszewski, leading to his being officially accounted for on May 23, 2022.

Conti said those DNA samples had been donated by Galaszewski’s youngest sister, Mary Tamburro, sometime before she died in 2014. After the samples were taken, the family heard nothing until September of this year when they received a phone call from the DPAA.

“You think it’s a hoax. It just doesn’t register right away,” Conti said of the call. “We didn’t hear (from the DPAA) for so long, but then the more you talk about it, the more you realize, ‘Oh my god, this is amazing.'”

Galaszewski was born in Steubenville on Sept. 5, 1912. He was one of seven children, four boys and three girls, born to Anthony and Mary Helen Galaszewski. His father died in 1936, resulting in difficult conditions for the family during the Great Depression, Conti said.

Everything Conti remembers comes from her grandmother, Eva Garrison, who told her daughter and granddaughter stories of her brother who was killed in the war. Although specific memories of Stanley Galaszewski have not survived, a handful of mementos have.

Bequeathed from Garrison to Conti was a photo album containing newspaper clippings and death notices related to Galaszewski, as well as a sympathy card and photos of the sinking California. Perhaps the most precious piece is a well-preserved letter from Galaszewski, addressed to Garrison and written while on the California only six weeks before the attack.

In the letter, Galaszewski told Garrison to tell his mother that he is doing well, and he confirms receipt of a birthday card from Garrison. Galaszewski writes that he had visited the island of Oahu and remarks that “Honolulu is not that different from Pittsburgh.”

“I myself don’t think much of our chance of being in this present war,” Galaszewski said in the letter. “I’m in the Pacific Ocean. I expect it would hit the East Coast or Atlantic Ocean, but if President Roosevelt has a little cooperation from some of the senators instead of being criticized, maybe we won’t be part of the European conflict.”

Conti reflected, “I thought it was interesting that he was trying to alleviate their fears by saying he’s in the middle of the Pacific, and yet, six weeks later, they bombed Pearl Harbor.”

That letter will one day be donated to the Pearl Harbor National Memorial Museum, Conti said. Conti herself has not been to Hawaii, but her mother has visited the Wall of the Missing, where a rosette will be added next to Galaszewski’s name, representing his being accounted for.

Although Conti is from Cleveland, Galaszewski’s other living descendants are located in Toronto, Steubenville and Wintersville. Today’s funeral for Galaszewski will unite the family, bringing together the oldest and youngest descendants — 72-year-old Dennis Galaszewski, who is Stanley Galaszewski’s nephew, and Conti’s 4-year-old grandson.

The funeral procession will make its way to Mount Calvary Cemetery from Mosti Funeral Home. Along the way, students from Steubenville Catholic schools and Steubenville High School will line Sunset Boulevard while holding U.S. flags. The general public is invited to participate.

The burial ceremony will feature the playing of “Taps,” a presentation of a U.S. flag, the presence of uniformed personnel from Naval Station Norfolk and the presentation to Galaszewski’s family of his military honors: the Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, Good Conduct Medal, American Defense Service Medal with Fleet clasp, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with Bronze Star, American Campaign Medal and World War II Victory Medal.

Conti said she found herself getting emotional Tuesday as her great-uncle’s casket was taken off the plane at Pittsburgh International Airport to be transported to the funeral home, accompanied by escorts from American Legion Post 557.

“I felt honored and grateful,” Conti said. “I have another level of respect for our military, how they’re putting their lives at risk and how committed they are to supporting each other.”

Conti added, “I might have even said it at the airport yesterday. We called our great-grandmother Baca because that’s Polish for grandma. I said, ‘Baca and grandma, he’s coming home.”