(l-r) Maria Galvan, U.S. Army Specialist Eric Galvan, and daughter Alisha

I receive information for these articles from many sources, but mostly from family members of men and women serving their Country unselfishly and many times, unfortunately, in hostile environments! For this article I was contacted by the wife of one of those men, from this valley and specifically Fillmore. She lives in Germany, with her daughter, awaiting his safe return from Afghanistan! The articles can't be written without family assistance. Thanks to his sister and mother for filling in the blanks of his growing up in Fillmore. The assistance of the serving member is also needed, however in this case the article is meant to be a surprise for the service member and he has not been contacted.

Some time back I wrote an article about two Fillmore Natives, both serving in Afghanistan in different branches of the military and having a chance meeting at Bagram, Airfield, Afghanistan. One was my son, United States Navy Petty Officer Second Class Phillip C. Diaz 26 years and the other United States Army Specialist Eric Ryne Galvan 22 years. It was Maria Galvan, wife of Specialist Galvan, who contacted me and provided most of the information for this article. Maria wanted to surprise her husband with an article in his “Hometown Newspaper” as a way of cheering him up and letting him know all of us back home are supporting him and wishing him a safe tour of duty while he is in Afghanistan!

Specialist Eric Ryne “Peanut” Galvan is a 2008 Fillmore High School graduate and the son of Lou and Alice Galvan and of Fillmore. Specialist Galvan has one sister, Corrina 38 years and brother Aaron 32 years both of Fillmore. His Maternal Grandparents are Luz Cabral and the late Antonio Cabral of Santa Paula. Paternal Grandparents are Elise Gonzalez and the late Luis Galvan also of Santa Paula. Specialist Galvan is married to Maria who was born and raised in southern Germany in the town of Stuttgart and now lives in Ansbach in Bavaria with her daughter Alisha 7 years old, while Specialist Galvan serves in Afghanistan.

While growing up in Fillmore Specialist Galvan was affectionately known as “Peanut”, a name he received from his Uncle Joe Cabral. Uncle Joe began calling him that because of his small size made him look like a peanut. Specialist Galvan's wife Maria now jokes that his nickname, Peanut, has changed to “Walnut” because of his role in the Army as a Black Hawk Crew Chief in Afghanistan. When I was talking about Eric around the Fillmore Community people will pause and say, “Oh you mean Peanut!” In most cases none of them ever knew him by his birth name.

Specialist Galvan enjoyed many things while growing up in Fillmore, both Youth Basketball and Fillmore Little League as well as Varsity Baseball at Fillmore High School. Eric was also a very active skateboarder and played in men's softball leagues with his father, Lou, and his many cousins as well as a co-ed softball league with his family, Lou, his sister Corrina and brother Aaron, just before Eric enlisted in the Army. Eric worked as a dishwasher for the Fillmore Cafe before eventually becoming a Sous Chef (a Sous Chef is the chef just below the Executive Chef and runs the kitchen when the head chef is unavailable). Eric also worked for Fillmore and Western Railway and played an Elf and a singing waiter on The Polar Express train during the Christmas season. Eric's other interests were local fishing trips and camping at Lake Piru and Lake Casitas.

Specialist Galvan comes from a long line of family that have served in the United States Military. More specifically the United States Army; Lou Galvan, US Army, Aaron Galvan, US Army (2 tours in Iraq) uncle Ismael Alonzo, US Army, uncle Mark Bustillos, US Army and Godfather Issac Prado, US Army. Specialist Galvan joined the Army in 2010 for a six year tour and completed his Basic Training at Fort Benning, Georgia. After basic training Specialist Galvan received his advanced training of over 14 weeks at Fort Euistis, Virginia near Norfolk as a Black Hawk helicopter crew chief. Specialist Galvan's military job specialty is 15T, UH-60 Helicopter Repairer. He is primarily responsible for supervising and performing maintenance on the UH-60 helicopters (also known as 'Black Hawk' helicopters). He is currently assigned to “A” Company, 5-158 AVN within the 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment, 12th Combat Aviation Brigade (“Griffins”) home based at Ansbach Army Airfield, Katterbach, Bayern,Germany, but now deployed in Afghanistan.

Specialist Eric Ryne Galvan is truly an American Hero and those of us back home in Fillmore would like him to know we are proud of him and thank him for his service. We thank him, and his family, for their sacrifice and for the sacrifice he and his family have made and will make in the future to keep our country free. We wish Specialist Galvan a safe deployment and for his safe return home after his deployment. Thank you for your service United States Army Specialist Eric Ryne “Peanut” Galvan!