Veteran of the Month: U.S. Marine Corps Col. Mike Romero 

Many people called Col. Mike Romero a Marine’s Marine, but he said he was just a small-town boy blessed with many opportunities.  

Some of the things he did during his years in the U.S. Marine Corps included recovering the first Apollo unmanned spaceship, creating the Marine Corps’ Semper Fit program, surviving two tours in Vietnam (where he was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor and the Vietnam Service Medal), serving as a combat cargo officer on the USS Boxer during the Cuban Missile Crisis, then on the President’s Council for Physical Fitness. 

Although not a particularly outstanding scholar at Pueblo’s Central High School, Mike was an outstanding athlete, who lettered there in baseball and football. However, after his high school graduation, Mike went on to complete college with honors and degrees in psychology and business. 

Although Mike’s active duty start date was 1962, he wore his first Marine uniform when enrolled in his middle school’s Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC).  

He went on to serve 27 years active duty. In Vietnam, he survived a sniper’s bullet that went between his legs and not through his heart, where it was intended. On another occasion, while on patrol through the jungles, Mike stepped on a land mine, which failed to explode. These close encounters made him wonder what other purposes did God have for his life. 

Mike moved back to New Mexico after his active-duty retirement from the Marine Corps, and taught at two Albuquerque high schools for a total of 13 years. First, he served eight years as the MCJROTC senior instructor at Rio Grande High School, where he established the school’s the first bilingual JROTC program (taught in Spanish and English) and subsequently received the 1990 Innovative Teacher of the Year Award from Pi Lambda Theta (national honorary organization for educators). 

From Rio, Mike then moved to La Cueva High School, where he and his long-time friend, Major Barker, built a new JROTC powerhouse program. After five years at La Cueva and a total of 40 years in Marine uniforms, he retired—again. 

While a teacher at RGHS, Mike met Ruth. His proposal was 100 percent Marine when he simply asked Ruth “Do you think it’s time for me to put you on my insurance?” How could she turn down such a romantic gesture? They were married a few months later. 

Ruth is a Blue Star Mother (children serving in the military). Mike never forgot how much he appreciated receiving care packages when he was deployed, so as a Blue Star Dad, Mike (also with a son in the military), was honored to help the Blue Star Mothers send packages to another generation of deployed troops. At one point, Mike and Ruth’s blended family had eight, who were serving in the military at the same time. Currently, there is one Romero grandson in the U.S. Army. 

Besides playing golf during retirement as often as he could, Mike began helping at his church’s food pantry. He told Ruth  he’d found “his” ministry and volunteered there every week. He loved praying and visiting with the volunteers and with the people who were served. 

The second of five children, Spanish was his first language. His mother always told Mike that “inglés es el idioma de los negocios” because English was the language of business. From his birth on a farm in Colorado to earning his business degree to his retirement on a farm in Bosque Farms, from being a middle school MCJROTC cadet to being a high school MCJROTC senior instructor, from learning English as second language to teaching English as a second language, across oceans and continents, his life came full circle.  

Through it all, Col. Mike Romero was a Marine’s Marine, who loved God, family and country. Semper Fi! 

(Editor’s Note: Each month the Belen Veteran’s Memorial committee will select one veteran from Valencia County to be honored.)