Carmelo Calderon Molina was one of the 17 Puerto Rican pilgrims killed by three members of the Japanese Red Army, recruited by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine at Lod Airport on May 30, 1972.
He was father to 10 children, 8 with his wife Eladia Cardona-Rosario and 2 from a previous marriage. He was described by his children as “a loving father” and “an upright, upstanding man” who sat with them on the porch and taught them poems, told them stories of his childhood, and sang hymns with them. They later said: “He was a friend, he was an advisor, he was a good father, a good provider, he would take care of his children.” “He was a Christian, and . . . he taught us that we had to go every Sunday to church.”