Wall Of Honor
Staffords has wall display honoring heroes
The City of Porterville now as a Wall of Honor, thanks to Chris Contreras of CC’S Wood Flags and Stafford’s Chocolate, a display with a wooden American flag designed in honor of first responders is now displayed on a wall at the business on Main Street.
Contreras created the display to honor fallen heroes and all those who work to keep everyone safe every day.
Then it was discussed what should go on the display. “Let’s just do a wall of patches,” said Stafford’s owner Rob Taylor on what was decided.
So Taylor has began collecting patches to go up on the wall and the plan is for the entire wall to be covered with the display.
The display began to be developed shortly after the fire on February 18 that destroyed the Porterville Public Library and killed Porterville City Firefighters Ray Figueroa and Patrick Jones.
A small ceremony with local first responders was held to launch the display. Fittingly, the Porterville City Fire Department and Porterville Police Department patches were the first to be placed on the display.
“It was an honor to be present and watch the first two patches go up,” City Council mayor Martha Flores posted on Facebook. “The City of Porterville Fire and Police Department.”
“That was really a real special event,” Taylor said.
Taylor also said a ceremony is planned for when the display is finished which will obviously happen sometime after at least some normalcy is restored when the worst of the coronavirus situation is over.
Which brought another issue for the display. How to honor all those health workers who are working on the frontlines.
The original purpose of the display was to honor first responders. But now the display will include military emblems and any kind of emblems
for medical workers as well. Taylor said one ambulance company has provided its patch for the display.
He said the middle portion of the display will be reserved for all the local agencies who helped during the time of the library fire. He added another portion of the display will be reserved for the military.
“That’s the new project,” said Taylor about the military display. And about all those who will be honored, Taylor said, “We’ve added a few new categories.”
And there are already patches from all over the country including Oklahoma County, the Worcester Fire Department in Massachusetts, a patch from Portland, Ore., a patch from New Hampshire and patches from the Beverly Hills
and Los Angeles Police Departments.
Taylor said he still hasn’t gotten around to placing all the patches he’s received so far. “I’ve still got a bunch I have to put up,” he said.
But Taylor added he wants to be deliberate in putting together the display. “I just don’t want to do it haphazardly,” he said.
He added the display will be portable so it can be taken to events such as the Veterans Day Parade.
“There needs to be a place in our community,” said Taylor about all those who protect everyone. “We love them. We appreciate all they do.”
When it came to the library fire, Taylor said, “If you don’t know a firefighter you know someone who knows a firefighter. This is something the community can be proud of.”