2017 Everyday Heroes: Rich Walkowiak

CRYSTAL LAKE – Rich Walkowiak, director of operations at JA Frate in Crystal Lake, served in the Marine Corps from 1984 to 1988. He now continues to give back to the community through his work at the shipping company and in his personal life through volunteerism and mentorship programs with local veterans.

Walkowiak enlisted in the Marines after hearing about the Beirut bombing that killed 241 U.S. service personnel at a Marine Compound on Oct. 23 1983. He had just graduated from Crystal Lake South High School. He said it was a patriotic move for him – and looking back, he wished he had stayed in longer.

“You just felt like you were missing something when you weren’t at home. Family, friends, what was going on,” he said. “But hindsight being 20/20, I’d have stayed in. I’d have been retired by now.”

In his current position at the shipping company, the former Marine tries to bring more veterans into the company, he said.

Walkowiak works with the Marines for Life program in Chicago that allows him to connect with recently discharged Marines who are looking for work.

“I can’t say I hire as many as I can but I prefer to hire veterans if they are getting out,” he said. “I remember when I got out. It’s a change.”

Being in the service doesn’t come without its challenges. He struggled transitioning back to civilian life after his four years were up. It became a matter of relearning social norms.

“Leadership style in the Marine Corps is much different than the leadership style in a company,” he said. “In the Marines, you say, ‘Go get that done.’ People don’t respond well in a company when you point a finger and say, ‘Go get that done.’ “

He said he read a book written by a former officer and that helped him, but it’s more difficult for those who have been in the service for much longer. He has an employee who was in for over a decade who still struggles with the military mindset, Walkowiak said.

“I call him my right-hand man,” he sad. “I’ve seen him struggle and I tell him I know what you’re thinking, what you want done. But you’ve got to sugarcoat it a little bit.”

JA Frate is well known in McHenry County for its memorial trailers, a tradition that began in 2004 to honor Lance Cpl. Jonathan Collins, 19, of Crystal Lake, who was killed in enemy action in Iraq. The company dedicated a trailer in his memory. Walkowiak was a driver at the time and requested to drive it, since he was a former Marine as well.

The tradition lived on in 2010 when the company dedicated a second trailer to honor six McHenry County service personnel killed in Afghanistan and Iraq: Sgt. Christopher Antonik, Spec. 4 Collier Barcus, Lance Cpl. Jonathon Collins, Lance Cpl. Ryan Cummings, Sgt. Jason McLeod, and Cpl. Keith Nurnberg.

“We get a lot of requests to have that at events, you know, if they are troop-inspired events,” he said. “People like to see it. The families are all still out here. It’s in the Crystal Lake parade every year.”

JA Frate is considering adding a third memorial trailer to its fleet, in the theme of the Vietnam wall, where residents can submit names of their loved ones to be placed into the design of the memorial wall trailer, Walkowiak said.

The company also works with local Boy Scout troops and “Operation Support our Troops America” by shipping supplies to soldiers.

“The Boy Scouts do a drive and want to ship it overseas and it’s not that simple,” he said. “So we have them bring it to us and we put it in with our stuff and take it down. We work with schools and companies and gather it that way.”

Co-worker Jill Disnmore nominated Walkowiak for the award.

“His commitment and loyalty to serve drives him every day,” she said. “He is the go-to person at JA for any request from a nonprofit needing to transport items. ...  I know there are so many more things he does behind the scenes, but when I think of Everyday Heroes, Rich Walkowiak is a walking example in our community.”