David John (D.J.) Moreno was a tall lanky young man standing about 5’10” or 6 foot tall. His goal was to become a male nurse or a doctor so that he could help people.

The 26-year-old followed in the steps of his father and a number of his uncles when he enlisted in the Navy.

He was in Gering in October of 2002 for his grandmother’s funeral. At that time he kenw it was likely he would be heading to the Middle East.

“Tios (uncles,)” he said as he talked with this uncles after the funeral, “I’m going to make you proud.”

“You do your best,” his Uncle Pete Moreno remembers them telling him.

D.J. went to Iraq in February and as a Navy Corpsman (Medic) he was attached to the 11^th Marine Expeditionary Unit, one of the first to enter into combat.

“He wanted to help people and that is what he was doing in Iraq,” his Uncle Alex Moreno said.

D.J. sent emails to his parents (David and Yolly) telling them about helping soldiers and Iraq civilians hurt in the conflict.

Last Thursday, after returning from a mission in Al Hamishyah (Ham-EEsh yah), D.J. was killed, according to the Defense Department by non-hostile gunfire.

D.J.’s parents were told by a Navy Admiral that his death was the result of an accidental shooting.

His unit had just returned from a morning patrol, his father said. “The Marines were putting away their weapons and one of the weapons misfired. The bullet entered the right side of David’s face.”

He was killed instantly.

“He was in harms way since they entered Iraq,” Pete said. “Then to have this happened.”

“D.J. was a good kid,” Alex said. “He was pretty quiet when you first met him, but would joike around after you got to know him.”

“He was a jokester,” Pete added. “I’ll always remember him having a smile on his face.”

“He knew life was serious through, especially going into the military,” Alex said.

For D.J. the military was nothing new.

His father, David Moreno, joined the Navy in October 1972. He retired for the Navy in October 1992.

“In his (D.J.’s) young life he moved from command to command,” his dad said.

He was born in the Subic Hospital on Subic Bay in the Philippines. He started school in Gaum, attended school in San Diego, Cali., and graduated high school in 1995 from Nebraska’s  Lincoln Southeast.

Military runs deep in the Moreno family. Besides D.J’s daad three of his uncles served in the Navy. Another served in the Air Force and one in the Army.

“John, George, and myself served in the Navy during the Viet Nam era,” Pete said. “Robert was in the Air Force and Alex was in the Army.”

“My brother David, D.J.’s father served during Desert Storm.”

After D.J. graduated, the family moved to Gering. It was their D.J. enlisted in the Navy in January 1998.

“I remember him writing a letter to my mom (Augustina),” Alex said. “In it he said he hoped she was proud of him and that she would put his picture up next to his uncles who had served in the military.”

The picture went up and “his grandparents (John and Augustina Moreno) would have been extremely proud of him.”

“My mom called him her ‘secret hero,’” Alex said.

In the Navy D.J. attended Corpsman School and decided to become a medic. He received his training at Camp Pendalton in California and was stationed in Gaum where he worked at the Naval Hospital.

“He received his EMT training there and delivered a baby,” his father said. “That was one of his highlights in Gaum. He was real proud of his work as a Corpsman.”

After Gaum he was stationed on the USS Mercy, a hospital ship and he worked mostly at the Naval Hospital in San Diego.

When the conflict in the Persian Gulf started up he knew he would be going.

“He was excited to go,” his father said. “When the ground war started he was there.”

In this letters home he told his father, “I like my work (as a Corpsman with his unit and with the Iraqi POWs), but I hate the conditions over here. It is too hot and the sand is always blowing in my face.”

In his off time D.J. was a big movie buff, his dad added.

“If you couldn’t find him he’d be at the movies or at home playing video games with his younger brother David B (JR),” dad said.

D.J. also had two sisters, Sharlotte Kingston, and Holly Christy Moreno.

“He was a happy go lucky young man,” Alex said. What happened “was a tragedy.”

“None of us hold any ill will toward the military or the soldier whose gun misfired,” Alex added. “D.J. was serving his country, doing his duty and we are just all so proud of him.”
On Tuesday the flags at the Naval Hospital in San Diego were flown at half-mast in honor of D.J. On Saturday a memorial service is scheduled at the hospital.

“We want to thank everyone for their support since this happened,” D.J.’s father said.

D.J. will be buried next to his grandparents at West Lawn Cemetery, in Gering, because of “all the advice they had given him in his younger years,” his father said. “It was his wish to be buried next to them.”

D.J.’s body is scheduled to arrive in Gering today. Tomorrow night a vigil will be held at Christ the King Catholic Church, 18^th and N Street in Gering, beginning tenitively at 7 p.m.

His body will be at Gering Memorial Chapel Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Funeral services will be at Christ the King Church at 10 a.m. Monday, June 28.