ENCINITAS —— After two back-to-back combat tours in Iraq, 22-year-old Marine Sgt. Rene Escobar said he is often touched by the simple gestures of civilians who reach out to thank him and his fellow Marines.

Escobar was one of about 30 Camp Pendleton Marines and Navy corpsmen who were lavished with lunch, free beer and many warm pats on the back by North County residents Tuesday at Encinitas Elks Lodge 2243.

"This is probably the best way they could say thanks —— I mean, just inviting us over like this," he said, clutching a drink fresh from the open bar.

"But that's not why we do it," he said. "We don't ask for much."

About 45 members of the lodge and friends from a local American Legion post packed individual "love bags" —— because they were "made with love," as one woman put it —— full of homemade cookies, toiletries and other treats for each Marine and sailor.

Almost all of the troops, members of Pendleton's 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, have been to Iraq at least twice.

Seeming a little stiff at first —— the Marines dressed in khaki service uniforms and sailors in their whites —— as they mingled with the mostly senior members of the lodge, the troops soon warmed up to their hosts, swapping war stories with veterans and indulging others in endless questions about families, hometowns and combat.

"We love it," said Lance Cpl. Donnie Chapman, 21, of Cape Cod, Mass., his cheeks flushed by either his icy drink or the series of hugs and kisses on the cheek given by some motherly Elks.

Ruth Osborn, a former Marine sergeant who organized Tuesday's midday mixer, said the residents of Encinitas and communities to the south don't have the same opportunities to talk to Marines as do residents in the communities that surround Camp Pendleton.

"These people are a little more eager about the Marines," she said of her group's members as she directed her 24-year-old granddaughter in some of the prelunch arrangements Tuesday.

Her Korean War veteran husband, 77-year-old retired Marine Gunnery Sgt. Norman Osborn, said he participated in the lunch because "once a Marine, always a Marine."

He said he and other residents just wanted to show support.

"They feel like they can do their part, which in this war they haven't really been able to yet," he said.

"It just needs getting done," said Marilyn Taranto, after making sure an empty-handed Marine got a drink. "Somebody's got to give these guys the honor and respect they deserve."

After some initial socializing, the lunch bell rang and the troops lined up to load plates with fruit salad and green beans, chicken, rice and ham.

Some drenched their meals with an extra ladle of hot gravy at the behest of 66-year-old Encinitas resident Barbara Dodd. She and her husband, Korea veteran Dave Dodd, prepared the food.

Johnny Johnson, 82, a Marine pilot who said he flew 63 missions in World War II, sat near 20-year-old Navy Corpsman Giancarlo Fenner of Baltimore, and next to Marine Cpl. Mark Galindo, 21, of Bakersfield.

"Were you in the invasion?" Johnson shouted across the table to Fenner, leading the group into a series of war stories they swapped over platefuls of meat and gravy.

Fenner said it was fun talking to old-timers who fought in conflicts that he had only read about and heard retold in Marine and Navy lore.

"It's good to share all this history —— theirs and ours," he said later.

Johnson marveled that Galindo, only 21, and so many of the other young troops had been to Iraq twice.

"Been there, done that," Galindo said of his most recent tour in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi. He and Johnson, though separated by more than 60 years, seemed fast friends.

He said the effort by Encinitas residents to thank him and the others was "awesome."

"It's awesome to see the support that just about every community in the country gives us," he said, before turning back to more stories and food.

Before the gifts were handed out and the Marines stood onstage with a microphone to introduce themselves, retired Marine Col. Jack Kelly took a break from the bar to say a few keynote remarks to the troops.

"What you are seeing here today is ordinary Americans, people who want to take time out to say 'thank you,' " he said.

He blasted the media for not reporting more accomplishments in Iraq and said the Marines were defending America against "the devil."

"(Americans) should get down on their knees and thank God that we have men like you defending our country," he said.

Contact staff writer Darrin Mortenson at (760) 740-5442 or dmortenson@nctimes.com.