by Breeanna Jent on 2013-10-07
The City of Colton now sports the first military banners dedicated to veteran military members in its history.
Since the program erected the first military service banner in October 2012, there have been a total of five banners hung along La Cadena Avenue near Colton’s civic hub. On Sept. 4, the first two banners honoring veterans were hung in the program’s history—and they belong to two members of the same family.
The military banners honoring the service of the father–daughter duo were fitting, since Henry Calderilla and his daughter Julie Porter are “like two peas in a pod,” said Dorothy Calderilla, Henry’s wife and Julie’s mother. “They are very close to each other.”
Porter followed in her father’s footsteps at the age of 18, just after graduating from Colton High School (CHS). She felt going to college wasn’t her best route at that point, and following her father’s example of service to his country, she enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, just as he had in 1965 at the age of 19.
“I knew that college wasn’t my calling, but I didn’t want to disappoint my parents,” Porter said. Her father spent 30 years with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, eventually retiring as a Sheriff’s Deputy. Due to his line of work and his military service, he taught Porter and her two older sisters, Sylvia and Tisha, many values. “He taught us to be respectful and be responsible, and I thought [the military] was my opportunity to show my family that I could be respectful and responsible, and to help out in some way,” Porter said.
She spent eight years in the service before she was diagnosed with a brain tumor and left active duty in 2001, just before the attacks on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, to receive treatment in Loma Linda, she said. The tumor is now dormant, but she did not return to active duty. She, like her father, retired as a sergeant.
After receiving treatment, she traveled the world working in U.S. embassies in countries like Burma, Venezuela and Japan. She now works as a noon aide at McKinley Elementary School, where her 6-year-old daughter, Jayda, attends. She has two other children, Sydney, 17, and Ayjay, 13.
Her father, Henry Calderilla, joined the Marine Corps just before he turned 20, and served a 13-month tour in Vietnam in 1966 and 1967. After serving his contracted four years in the Corps, he returned home where he went to school and then began work with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
Military service is a tradition in the Calderilla family, both Calderilla and Porter noted. Calderilla’s cousins have served in the Army, Air Force and the Navy, and his middle daughter, Sylvia, also served in the Army. Porter’s husband, Keith Porter, recently retired from 22 years of service in the Marine Corps, and the family hopes to have both Keith’s and Sylvia’s banners added to La Cadena in honor of their service.
“We’d like to get a little family corner there,” said Porter.
While the family wasn’t able to make it out to watch the banners go up, they have made independent trips to see them, both Calderilla and Porter noted.
“It’s gratifying to see them up there,” said Calderilla. “Especially being the first father–daughter combo, and in the same branch.”
Porter said, “When I saw mine, I was kind of in shock. I couldn’t believe it was up there, but when I saw my dad’s, I got a little teary-eyed. He was my motivation, and he has always been my inspiration.”
For Keith Porter, the Military Service Banner project is a welcome addition to the city.
“The first time I saw military banners was in Ontario,” he said. “When I heard that Colton was participating, I liked it. It’s great that the city is doing something like this for military members. Hopefully it will encourage others to join the military.”
Porter and Calderilla join other service members, including J. Kyle Newman, who serves in the Navy and whose banner was also put up the same day, Sept. 4. The three joined E7 Sergeant 1st Class John Bonilla and U.S. Army Calvary Scout Brandon Villarreal, whose banners were placed in November 2012 and February 2013, respectively.