Colton Resident Honored for Military Service

Recently, Robert Trujillo was nominated by his friends and family to be honored by the city of Colton for the Colton Hometown Heroes Military Banner Program. Trujillo was born in Colton to Colton residents, Gonzalo and Enedina Trujillo. He attended Washington Elementary School and graduated from Colton High School in 1963. After graduating high school, he joined the Navy in 1964. Trujillo shared, “It was a great experience for me as a 17-18 year old kid out of high school. I traveled to Australia, Japan and Hawaii and had never been outside the city of Colton before then.” Some Memorable moments Trujillo recalled during his time in the Navy was seeing the Great Barrier Reef in Australia which he shared was “awesome” and spending one Christmas at the Hong Kong Hilton overlooking the bay. He stated, “We went to the World’s Fair in Seattle, Washington in 1964. We were on the ship and they had hydro races, and we were out there in the water and they were going around us, [while] we were looking at the race.” Trujillo was in Vietnam during the Vietnam War as a minesweeper. He received some medals for his service during that time, including the Expeditionary Medal. The Expeditionary Medal “was established on Dec. 4, 1961, to be awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces who, after July 1, 1958, have participated in a United States military operation and encountered foreign armed opposition, or were in danger of hostile action by foreign Armed Forces,” stated on the The Official Web Site of the Air Force Personnel Center. He officially got out of the Navy in 1966 and was part of the Reserves until 1969. He went back to his hometown of Colton and lived with his family. Trujillo and his wife, Maria raised their daughter, Anna Reyes, who works as a school teacher and son, Robert Jr., who is also a school teacher. Trujillo worked for the city of Colton for 32 years until his retirement and is enjoying time with his family and the addition of 3 granddaughters. Trujillo shared, “I appreciate the honor, I didn’t expect it, it was a surprise to me [and] I’m honored. I would be more honored for the people who died in Vietnam to be honored as well in the future, there are people who deserve it more than I do.” Trujillo said, “I think the Military Banner Program is great, I think they should do it for a lot of people. I would like to see my friend, Richard John Juarez, who was raised in Colton and served in Vietnam to be honored as well.”