Local Army Veteran Given Banner

Local Highgrove resident, Jerry Hernandez, was recently honored with a banner in Colton as part of the Colton Hometown Heroes Military Banner Program. The new banner was installed on July 2 and is located on F Street and La Cadena Drive next to his father-in-law, Paul Brown’s military banner. Hernandez grew up in Riverside and was born to Joe and Katie Montes. He moved to Colton at the age of 12 and graduated from Colton High School in 1968. Hernandez was drafted into the army on July 15, 1969 and served until Feb. 1971. He spent time in Vietnam and Cambodia and recalled going to Cambodia on his 21st birthday, May 9, 1970. After his time in the military, he received an Air Medal and a Vietnam Medal. When Hernandez returned from his time in the army, he said his parents picked him up from the airport. "I hadn’t talked to them in 14 months," he said. Hernandez began coaching Little League and continued in his coaching career for 30 years. In addition to coaching Little League, he was a youth basketball coach for eight years. Hernandez was hired full time at the Southern California Gas Company in Feb. 1974 and retired in Dec. 2006. Hernandez met his wife, Suzie, through his high school friend, John Bautista, and sister-in-law, Paula Brown, and has been married for 40 years. They had three boys: Brian, Jerry and Aaron Hernandez, who are all married now. Hernandez has 11 grandchildren: Sadie, Jacob, Jackie, Forrest, Victoria, Paul, Katherine, Aaron, Joey, Matt and Madison. His wife said, “We all pitched in. He’s a Vietnam veteran and when they came home they weren’t welcomed and I thought it was one way to say, 'Welcome home.'" Hernandez said he was pretty proud to have everyone do this for him. "I wanted to be there, I wanted it to be next to my father-in-law, Paul Brown, who was a WWII hero," he said. "He was just a really good guy - he was a soldier and he’s a hero to me. He’s a good mentor and a real good man." Hernandez said the two would go camping together and take off in their trailers together. "We’ve been to the Grand Canyon and Yosemite," he said. Hernandez spends time traveling with his family with their RV and enjoys fishing in the Sierras.