Hometown honors for Lansdale Marine

[thedrifter]

Hometown honors for Lansdale Marine

By LOU SESSINGER
Bucks County Courier Times

Keep an eye out for Nick Galante. Beginning today his picture will be featured on a billboard on some SEPTA buses driving around the area.

The U.S. Marine Corps has selected Sgt. Nicholas J. Galante of Lansdale as one of its “Hometown Marines.”

It's a Marine Corps national ad campaign that features Marines who have distinguished themselves in the global war on terror.

Marines don't consider themselves heroes, but these guys are the real deal.

Galante, a 2003 graduate of North Penn High School, was awarded a bronze star medal with Combat “V” device for action against enemy insurgents near Fallujah, Iraq, in March 2007.

As a squad leader with a Mobile Assault Platoon of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, Galante took out three armed insurgents who had attacked a Marine unit.

A few days later, Galante, 23, was part of a patrol that came under attack near a small bridge.

According to the citation that accompanied his bronze star, Galante exposed himself to the enemy numerous times to lay down suppressive fire on the enemy.


His actions helped keep his fellow Marines safe and resulted in three enemy dead.

In June 2007 Galante earned the Purple Heart Medal when he took shrapnel wounds to his head, neck and back after a suicide bomber in a dump truck crashed into a Marine patrol base and blew himself up.

Galante's “Hometown Marine” bus billboard shows him in Marine dress blue uniform with medals displayed.

It reads: “Lansdale's Own Hometown Marine, Sgt. Nicholas J. Galante — Bronze Star with Combat "V for Valor' Recipient.

Galante, who played football and rugby at North Penn, will kick off his billboard display at a ceremony at Philadelphia's City Hall at 3 p.m. today.

His biography will be added to those of other Hometown Marines on the Web at http://our.marines.com.
Lou Sessinger can be contacted at 610-279-6153 or lsessinger@phillyBurbs.com.

September 29, 2008 7:56 AM

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Local Marine Becomes Billboard 'Poster Boy'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ― He served his country with pride and bravery and on Monday, a local Marine was honored at Philadelphia City Hall.

Marine Sgt. Nicholas J. Galante, a native of Lansdale, cut the ribbon for a new Marine Corps ad that celebrates his bravery in Iraq. Galante, 23, is a graduate of North Penn High School.

The ad is called "Hometown Marine" and it will be featured on billboards running on Philadelphia's public bus system starting this fall.

"I wanted to be a Marine since I was a little kid, I love the United States of America," Galante said.

Galante was selected to represent the Marine Corps based on his performance as a squad leader with Mobile Assault Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, in Fallujah, Iraq, during Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2007.

Last March Galante single-handedly took out three terrorists. In that same month, he was recognized for leading the suppression of a planned terrorist attack and again eliminating three more terrorists. Galante received a Bronze Star with Combat "V" for his role in these engagements.

The billboards will show Galante wearing the Marine Corps Dress Blue uniform, complete with medals earned throughout his career. The advertisement reads: "Lansdale's Own Hometown Marine, Sgt. Nicholas J. Galante - Bronze Star with Combat 'V for Valor' Recipient."

"He's a leader, not a follower. I don't know where he's going to go but I know his heart is with the soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan, so I can see him going back with them," Galante's mother Barbara said.

Hometown Marines is a national campaign. The campaign features ten Marines across the country, all of whom have distinguished themselves during the ongoing Global War on Terror.

Billboards of each Marine will run only in his hometown and surrounding communities.


Video

http://cbs3.com/local/local.marine.billboard.2.828312.html


Ellie