Sgt Major Tomaeno - Rest In Peace - Semper Fi

I regret to inform you that SgtMaj. Joseph Tomaeno Jr., USMC (ret) passed away after a long illness on Monday, 3 Jul 2023.  SgtMaj. Tomaeno had been 1st Sgt of MWCS-48 and VMGR-234 at NAS Glenview and SgtMaj of 2/24 in Chicago accompanying them to Desert Shield/Desert Storm.  He joined out Corps in Nov 1963 and was sent to Vietnam as an engineer.  He retired on 30 Nov 1993.

Mass will be held on Tuesday 18 Jul 2023, 1000, at St. Peter Damian Catholic Church, 131 S. Crest Ave., Bartlett, Illinois.

Please communicate this information to all Marines.

Semper Fi,

Bob Dart

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Sgt Major Tamaeno was an outstanding Marine. He was professional and sharp.  He took care of his Marines. And funny and salty, in a good way. He looked great in uniform, with his hash marks nearly touching his Sgt Major Chevrons. The photo on the right is from the internet - his were closer.

He served in two wars - Vietnam and Desert Storm. And his son was mobilized for Desert Storm with him.

Sgt Major Tomaeno had a great story about tanks. He mobilized with 2/24, the Chicago Marine Infantry Battalion. His son was mobilized with him and they were soon in Iraq for the war.

Sgt Major Tomaeno saw a Marine on an Iraqi tank, and yelled "Get off of that tank. You don't know what you are doing. You will get hurt."

The Marine replied, "Son, I do know what I am doing. I am trying to get this running so we can use it." 

Sgt Major Tomaeno noted that there were few Marines in Iraq that could call him son. But the grizzled old Warrant Officer was one of them.

The Warrant Officer said, "The last time I was on one of these tanks was in Korea. But this is the last time. After this I am going to retire."

Semper Fi, Sgt Major

Craig Hullinger

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RIP Sgt Major Tomaeno

Keith Carr

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Craig, thanks for the notification. Much appreciated.

Sadly, with our advancing age these notifications will now become much more frequent.

I plan to be at St. Damian's church.

May the Sergeant Major Rest-In-Peace!

s/f

Bob Raclaw

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Thank you for this notification. We rolled into Kuwait City together a few years ago.

MGySgt Harper

Semper Fi!

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God Bless the SgtMaj., his family 
& friends.

S/F brother Marine….

Ivan Zimmer

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So sorry to hear of Joe Tomaeno’s passing. My favorite time and memory with Joe was at 29 Palms on a CAX. I was the OIC of a small MWCS-48 Detachment of about 28 Marines and Joe, then a Gunny, was my Senior SNCO.

When there was a fatal helicopter crash up on the plateau Joe happened to be at the flight line and he jumped into another chopper to assist the rescue mission anyway he could at the crash site.  That was his heroic moment.

As the year before, our supporting unit was vacating the Expeditionary Air Field (EAF) a day before were to be bussed out of the desert by commercial busses.

Joe got hotel accommodations for us at a Palm Springs motel and we got 2 CH 46 pilots to fly us out of the EAF and to the Palm Springs civilian airport a day before we were scheduled to leave the desert. Joe did an outstanding job organizing and leading the Marines through every evolution on and off the field.

I gained a lot of respect for Joe during that 2 week exercise for his initiative and dedication to duty. That was the start of a relationship we had for many years to come.

Rest in Peace and Semper Fi Marine!

Woz

Ron Wozniak