Saul Duran Honored with Military Banner

Saul Duran called Wednesday, March 4 a “wonderful day” as many of his family members and friends surrounded him as the City of Colton installed his military banner. Master Sergeant (Msgt) Duran enlisted into the Air Force in 1970 and served a total of 10 years. Prior to his service, Duran’s childhood was spent in his hometown of Colton. While attending Colton High School, Duran played on the football and baseball team his sophomore year. However, during his senior year in 1952, he stopped going to school and started working at Norton Air Force Base where he worked on aircraft. “That’s where I got my training and learned everything there is to know about aircraft maintenance,” Duran shared. He worked on planes like the C-141. Although he was active duty for 10 years, his aircraft career spans across his whole life, which includes his 15 years of being a National Guard in his hometown of Colton, and being at Norton Air Force Reserve for 7 to 8 years. Throughout his entire Air Force service, he was in charge of air craft maintenance. “My absolute favorite part about serving was all the places I was able to see,” he shared. Duran had the opportunity to travel all over the Pacific. He served active duty at various places including: Hawaii, Philippines, Okinawa and Yokota in Japan, Guam, South Carolina and more. He added, “Being able to see all of these different places… It was amazing.” After coming out of active duty in 1978, Duran went back in 1988 to serve for two more years and then retired in 1990. It was his family’s idea to get him his very own military banner. According to Duran, they tried their best to surprise him but needed too much information from him that they were unable to keep it a secret. “The cat came out of the bag,” Duran said chuckling. His family and most of his close friends were there to support him. “The Installation Ceremony was absolutely wonderful… I’m so thankful for all of my family, my friends; everyone was just great,” he said. “Big thanks to the City’s people too, they did so great.” Duran’s military banner can be seen on the southeast corner of Rancho and Johnson in Colton.