John Gale was facing what he imagined would be the end of his young life.
The 18-year-old Army private had just landed in northern Belgium, one of scores of untested recruits sent as infantry replacements as World War II ground toward its end, and Gale was assigned as an ammo bearer to help lead the 102nd Infantry Division forward. Crack German snipers were positioned across the river.
“It was the middle of the afternoon, and the ammo apron I wore was loaded front and back. I just knew that I was the first guy they were going to hit. I thought, ‘This is it, there’s no way I’m getting out of this,’” Gale remembered.
Just as he was about to move out, he heard someone screaming his name.
“The captain wants to see you back at headquarters, kid, you’re to be reassigned.”
Gale, who spoke Italian growing up in his Boston-area family and studied German in school, was reassigned and sent to Paris, where he was trained in Army intelligence. Promoted to staff sergeant, he spent the next two years interrogating prisoners and helping to locate sites for military cemeteries in Italy and France.
Gale, a huge Canes fan who earned his law degree in 1958, was one of a number of University of Miami veterans who were recognized recently at the Nov. 2 football game at Hard Rock Stadium against Duke University in anticipation of Veterans Day. The Nov. 11 holiday honors the heroism of those who died in our country's service.
When the camera panned to Gale, standing on the sidelines late in the third quarter with his two sons, he waved his Canes cap.
“We were losing at the time, and the crowd went wild when they saw me wave my hat; it was amazing,” Gale said.
“John Galardi” was born July 2, 1926, in Malden, Massachusetts, in the suburbs of Boston. He had a “fabulous family,” spent his early life in the town, and then was drafted at 18. He attended boot camp in Camp Blanding Army Base in Starke, Florida, then was shipped out to Europe. When the war ended and his service duties were completed in 1946, he returned briefly to Malden.
“I had never held a rifle and had only been out of my town twice before I went in. I learned a lot and had to grow up fast in the Army, so with the GI Bill, I knew I wanted to get an education but didn’t know where,” he said.
Though he was short in stature, Gale had been a basketball and baseball star in his hometown. With a friend, he found his way to Indiana State College and enrolled there, expecting to play basketball along with his studies in art.
Then he learned that John Wooden, who would go on to basketball fame at UCLA, was finishing his stint as head basketball coach and that the “Sycamore Sams” were loaded with tall talent. He opted to play baseball instead.
In his last year, he transferred back to Boston to attend Emerson College, where he graduated in 1950 with degrees in English and speech—one of many fortuitous decisions he would make over the course of his life. He palled around with a number of comedians and personalities and took a job as a disc jockey at WTAO, a local radio station.
Following a job offer, he moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where, after a stint with a radio station, he moved to television and launched his own show as a host. The station manager insisted that he change his name. So, John Gale Galardi became John Gale.
“The John Gale Show” was a big hit and did very well, but when Gale was berated for picking a Black contestant from the audience as a winner for one of his contests, he decided it was time to leave—and seek another career.
“I didn’t like Louisville, but I was a success there. But when that happened at the station, I realized how fragile my position was,” he said.
A Louisville golf friend and local lawyer knew the University of Miami law school dean at the time and helped Gale make the connections to attend the school.
He loved Miami and thrived attending the School of Law, which was moving into its newly constructed quarters at that time in 1956.
“I did well, graduated, and became a lawyer. Thirteen years later, I ran for judge, won, and served for 20 years,” he recounted.
A sports enthusiast all his life, Gale got very involved with the University’s athletic program. Together with several judges, he helped to establish the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame and Museum and served two terms as the inaugural president.
His clerkship with a federal judge influenced his decision to become a judge himself. As an administrative judge for civil and family divisions, Gale was instrumental in many reforms in the local judicial system.
Under Judge Gale’s guidance, the Miami court was rated the fastest, most efficient court in the country, moving from filing to dispensation. He eliminated the system that allowed lawyers to get the judge they wanted who would likely dismiss their case and oversaw other reforms as well. He retired in 1991 and now enjoys painting again.
He credited his military service with teaching him many of the traits that proved helpful in his life.
“When you’re a kid, everything is a holiday. The military helped me grow up, and if it wasn’t for the discipline that I learned in the Army, things would have been so different. I’d come to a crossroads and just made my decision,” Gale said.
“I’ve been fortunate in that many times in my life I was in the right place at the right time and made a good decision—and I’ve had lots of people who helped me along the way,” he added. “That’s why it has been so important for me to do the same for others.”
Gale is among the veterans who will be featured in the Making History Project under the directorship of Patrick Russell and promoted locally as the University of Miami Oral History Project for veterans and active-duty military 2024.
