Elgin Marine killed in Vietnam 50 years ago to be honored

Donna Santana was unhappy when her boyfriend told her he was going off to war, but he was fervent about keeping the communists from invading U.S. shores.

Still, she loved the jovial young man from Elgin, and she married Marine Corps Pfc. Florentino "Tino" Santana in 1965, just before he shipped off to Vietnam to fulfill his mission.

"He told me, 'If we don't keep the communists over there, the next thing they will be here. I want you to stay free. I don't want the communists over here,'" said Donna, now 71. "When I listened to what he was saying ... he believed in what he went to fight for. So then I wasn't upset with him."

But Florentino Santana didn't return home. He died in battle at 19 and never met the daughter conceived before his departure.

On the 50th anniversary of Santana's death on Sunday, Elgin VFW Post 1307 will host a ceremony to honor him and his family while also remembering eight other Elginites killed in Vietnam.

"I think it's wonderful that they are doing this," said Donna, now of Kingman, Arizona. "For not only my husband, but for all the servicemen."

Donna and Florentino met in January 1965 at a Saturday night dance at the former Masonic Temple in Elgin. She was 20; he was 18. Florentino was a finalist in that night's dance contest and asked Donna if she'd fill in for his missing partner. The two won the contest.

An Elgin High School graduate, Florentino Santana was a fun-loving guy, his widow said. "He always had something nice to say. He always had something to joke about."

The couple got married that same year, twice. First, in secret, on Labor Day, after Tino told Donna he had enlisted in the Marines. Then, officially, a few months later on New Year's Eve when Tino came home after boot camp.

Florentino was assigned to D Company, 1st Batallion, 26th Marines, 3rd Marine Division, and was killed in action Sept. 18, 1966. He is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Elgin, where a simple stone marks his short life and service to his country.

Donna never remarried, partly because the two guys she briefly dated - years after Florentino's death - bowed out once they found out she was a single mother. But also, no one truly measured up to her husband. "There was just no one like Florentino," she said.

Sunday's ceremony

At the Elgin ceremony, attendees will be invited to write down the names of any veterans killed in action since World War II. They are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and their dancing shoes for an hour of music by The Bad Penny Trio after the ceremony, scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday at 1601 Weld Road.

"We often talk about remembering veterans and their families," said post member Bob Getz, the ceremony's organizer. "This is an opportunity to walk the walk."

The other Elginites killed in action in Vietnam are James Arthur Boone, William Ray Christensen, Lex Elswick, Calvin Edward Milam, Nelson Roger Moore, Dennis Melvin Schultz, Roger Lee Wilson and Edwin Francis Turk Jr., whose names will be read at the ceremony.

Getz said he came up with the idea last year after helping organize a ceremony in Chicago on the 50th anniversary of the death of a serviceman from his own unit in Vietnam.

"I said, 'Why don't we see what we can do in Elgin?' " Getz said. "I found the (names of the) Elgin individuals killed in action and I went to find their families. I wouldn't do something like this without the families. But I could only locate the family of Santana."

Donna Santana and her daughter, Kate McNally, will travel from Arizona to attend Sunday's ceremony.

"Growing up I was always very proud of my dad and what he did," McNally said. "So much so that I joined the Marine Corps in 1986, and my son joined in 2011. It's a family business."

She and her mother are glad that Vietnam servicemen are being recognized, even if decades later.

Vietnam, marking our first experience with guerrilla warfare, was a tough one to fight.

"Our troops were just not prepared for that," McNally said. "And the American public back home, they didn't know how to deal with it. They just had no point of reference to work from."