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Efren Moreno was a Marine to the day he died

Tucson Region

Marine vet held true to company's values

Opinion by Ernesto Portillo Jr.
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.05.2007
A week ago today as members of Easy Company, their families and friends gathered in an annual reunion, one of its members was ailing.
Master Gunnery Sgt. Efren E. Moreno, who had attended previous reunions of the Korean-era Tucson U.S. Marine Corps reserve unit, was in a hospice. Family members readied themselves for what would come next.
Tuesday, the day before I wrote a column about the Easy Company gathering, the 83-year-old Moreno, who served in three wars and earned various service and bravery medals, died quietly in the middle of the night.
"He was a patriotic man," said his son, David Moreno, 53, of Tucson.
I visited the Moreno family Saturday at their West Side home to talk to his family.
Last week's column was about E Company, its history and legacy. Today's column is about one Marine who, I think, reflected the values of his fellow Marines and especially those of E Company.
Easy Company was a Tucson Marine Corps reserve unit activated a little more than a month in the summer of 1950 after North Korea invaded South Korea. Most of E Company were from Chicano barrios, but also included Tohono O'odham, Chinese and Anglo boys.
Moreno was born on Elias Street in barrio El Hoyo just south of Downtown. When he was 16, he joined the Navy in 1940 and served in World War II, said his family.
He saw action in the Pacific and when war ended in 1945 he had become a Marine. He returned home, married his childhood neighbor in 1946 and they began a family.
"He used to pass by and we would talk," said Genevieve Yanez Moreno, who grew up in Downtown's Barrio Viejo.
But war came again and when E Company shipped out, Ruben L. Moreno, no relation, traveled with the older, experienced Marine.
They saw each other frequently in the three years they fought in Korea. They escaped serious injuries, froze in their Korean foxholes and longed to return to Tucson, said Moreno, E Company's archivist.
After Korea, Efren Moreno served as a drill instructor in California and Hawaii, and was a top Marine recruiter in Tucson for about 13 years. He also was a weapons instructor in his nearly 33-year career.
In Tucson he helped establish the Tucson Detachment Marine Corps League on East 29th Street in South Tucson.
Three of his four sons, Robert, David and William, followed their dad's Marine bootprints.
Moreno went to Vietnam, as did his eldest, Robert, who died in 2003 of effects from Agent Orange.
The senior Moreno returned for a second tour in Vietnam. He earned two Purple Hearts for wounds he received in Vietnam but turned down at least two more, said the family.
Moreno, who retired in 1978, still carried shrapnel in his legs and back.
The family said Moreno was a serious and modest man of few words and displayed little emotion.
"He said only what he needed to say," said his 17-year-old granddaughter, Brittany Moreno of Buena Park, Calif.
But he did cry proud tears when his grandson, David Moreno Jr., now 20, became a Marine.
He remained faithful to the Marine Corps in 2003 when the Iraq war began. He went to the Marine Corps recruiting office on East Speedway near Tucson Boulevard and volunteered to be a recruiter, said his family.
"He was serious," said William Moreno, 47, who lives in Virginia.
His family said Moreno was all Marine all the time.
Easy Company is down one more Marine, but the unit remains Semper Fi.
Visitation will be held Monday at 8:30 a.m. at Carrillo's Tucson Mortuary, 240 S. Stone Ave. Graveside service and burial will follow at 11 a.m. at Holy Hope Cemetery on North Oracle Road.
Opinion by
Ernesto
Portillo jr.
● Contact columnist Ernesto Portillo Jr. at eportillo@azstarnet.com or 573-4242. His blog is at go.azstarnet.com/blogs.
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