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Members of Easy Company 13th Infantry Battalion U.S.M.C.R. gathered with their friends and families Sunday afternoon. For most of the past 37 years, they have reminisced and, as much as they don't like to, share memories about the nearly 100 men who have died.

Easy Company has an indelible place in Tucson's history. The unit, about 235 strong, was one of the first Marine Reserve units in the country activated in 1950 for the Korean War.

The majority of the Marines were from Tucson's Mexican barrios, mostly teenagers. Some had graduated from Tucson High School, others were still in school and a few were not.

A few were veterans from World War II, which had ended in 1945.

That was the "Good War." That is the war we talk about or read about or watch movies about young Americans fighting and dying.

The Korean War remains the forgotten conflict, even though its veterans were just as brave as those in any other war.

E Company traveled to a peninsula that no one really knew about, much less cared. But the families of Easy Company and other Tucsonans who went to Korea cared very much.

Some of the mothers and grandmothers of Easy Company Marines prayed to la Virgen de Guadalupe for their boys' safe return. "Cuidame a 'mijo. Regresamelo. Por favor te pido mi virgencita."

The new war was as brutal and miserable as the previous big war. But the young men and young barrio boys, who would soon be men, knew only one thing: It was their time to serve and to possibly give their ultimate sacrifice.

Never mind that sometimes Easy Company boys were chastised in school for speaking Spanish or ridiculed because they ate frijoles and listened to Mexican music. Regardless of neighborhood or background, Easy Company shared a common value.

They did not think twice about responding honorably to their country's call. They were proud Tucsonenses, and, above all, proud to be Americans.

The trains took them west to California, where they boarded ships for Korea.

Our boys were wearing Marine uniforms. They were handsome, proud and scared.

They had heard about the awful taste of war and the harshness of the weather.

Still, our Tucson boys stood straight. They would not dishonor their families or their barrios, they promised each other and themselves. They told their families, girlfriends and wives that they would return.

But they promised their mothers, in the name of God, they would return and again wrap their strong arms around them.

Of course, few promises, if any, can be kept during war.

Our boys fought. They were noble. They were homesick.

Places Tucsonans had never heard about became part of their daily conversation: Inchon, Wonsan, Kojo, Seoul, the Yalu River, the 38th Parallel.

A dozen members of Easy Company would not return, but their names and stories never disappeared. They remain alive because their fellow Marines made sure Tucson would remember them.

Sgt. Raul B. Babasa.

Sgt. Jesus R. Carrasco.

Pfc. Raymond C. Hubbard.

Pfc. Alfonso E. Lopez.

Sgt. Johnson "George" McAfee Jr.

Pfc. Manuel H. Moreno .

Pfc. Richard L. Nickles.

Pfc. Emilio A. Ramirez.

Pfc. Corbett B. Robertson.

Pfc. Malcolm J. Schaeffer.

Pfc. Antonio Y. Urbalejo.

Pfc. Joe M. Valenzuela.

They are not forgotten.

Stories and pictures about E Company can be found at parentseyes.arizona.edu/ ecompany/index.html. The county's Kino Korean War Memorial Park is at 2805 E. Ajo Way.

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