Military Brothers of Colton

The Morales family in Colton proved that courage runs in the family as two brothers Manuel and Vincent Morales serve their country in different branches in the military. The two brothers grew up in Colton. Manuel graduated from Colton High School in 2010 and his younger brother Vincent spent the first two years at Colton High and then transferred to Grand Terrace High School, where he was a part of the first graduating class of 2014. Their father, Ray Morales, shared that Manuel was always interested in playing “army man” when he was younger. After graduating high school in 2010, he worked at the local Stater Bros. According to Ray, he wanted to figure out what he wanted to do in the future. As he started to look more into a military career, he decided that he wanted to join the Navy. Manuel began his service in March of 2013, serving as a Yeoman in which he partakes in mostly office work. In Vincent’s case, Ray shared, “He saw his brother serving and thought, ‘I want to join too.’” Vincent, 19, joined the Air Force on May 28 of this year and immediately was sent to Texas for boot camp. He graduated about one month later, in June, and started his schooling at Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, Texas. “He goes to school from nine to five…it’s basically their job,” Ray explained. Manuel was honored on Nov. 18, 2014 with his very own military banner installation ceremony. “It was a very special day,” Ray added. His banner was officially installed on the southwest corner of O Street and La Cadena in Colton. Although Vincent is currently serving in Texas, the Morales family is already working on getting Vincent his very own military banner, as well. Therefore, both brothers can be seen throughout the Colton community and honored by a myriad of people for their service to this country.