In 2011, two Navy SEALs were carried along Fourth Street on the way to their final resting place, and Coronado turned out without being asked. Members of the local Rotary Club handed out American flags. Residents lined the street. As the procession neared the Coronado Bridge, a lone Navy SEAL stood at attention and saluted. The City later wrote that in that moment it "became clear that Third and Fourth streets were already an Avenue of Heroes."
That account comes from the City of Coronado's own May 2026 Avenue of Heroes ceremony program. The street was a memorial before the City made it official, and the program still runs the same way. No banner goes up unless someone from the community puts a name forward. The next group of names will be honored this Saturday morning, October 31.
A State Route the City Turned Into a Memorial
Third and Fourth Streets carry commuters, but they're also State Route 282. In 2014, Coronado resident Toni McGowan, an advocate for honoring local military members, helped turn the 2011 tribute into a lasting tradition. Her work led the City to designate State Route 282, Third and Fourth Streets from Orange Avenue to Naval Air Station North Island, as the "Coronado Avenue of Heroes," and to adopt a banner ceremony to go with it.
The first 18 banners went up in May 2015. McGowan also worked with the Third and Fourth Streets Neighborhood Association and other partners to get the route recognized as a Blue Star Memorial Highway, a tribute to the nation's Armed Forces. The State of California granted that designation in January 2017.
The partnership behind the program is still local. City staff run it with volunteers from VFW Post 2422, the Coronado Historical Association, and the Third and Fourth Streets Neighborhood Association. The banners hang from street light poles along the corridor. City programs put the total honored at more than 300 since the program began.
Every Banner Begins as a Form
According to the City's Avenue of Heroes program page, nominations are accepted on a continuing basis, the public is encouraged to submit them, and the Avenue of Heroes Committee chooses from what comes in. Each banner on the corridor started with a nomination form.
The eligibility rule is broad by design. Nominees may be living or deceased, and they must have served or be serving honorably in a branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. They also need a Coronado connection, meaning they live or once lived within city limits, and being stationed at Naval Base Coronado counts. The Coronado Historical Association explains that service can be documented in several ways, including a DD Form 214 or an active-duty record. Proof of residency can take many forms, as long as it satisfies the selection committee.
The process, as the City describes it:
- Download the Avenue of Heroes nomination form from the City's program page.
- Email it to [email protected], or mail or drop it off at City of Coronado Avenue of Heroes, 1825 Strand Way, Coronado, CA 92118.
- The Avenue of Heroes Committee selects honorees for a ceremony. Ceremonies are held twice a year.
- Families and honorees pay nothing for the banner, and they receive it once the next group of honorees replaces it.
That last step matters. Each banner on the street is on loan for one display period, and then it goes home to the family as a keepsake.
The Banner Is the Short Version
A street banner holds a name and a few service details. The full story is in the ceremony program, and the people who knew the honorees write it. In the May 2026 program, City Manager Tina Friend described the biographies as "written by family and friends that honor the remarkable, often overlooked stories of Coronado's hometown heroes."
Those biographies go into detail. The profile of Group XXII honoree VADM Brent Bennitt, written by a friend, records 213 combat missions in the A-4C with Attack Squadron 94. It also covers his later command of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and his final at-sea tour as Commander, Carrier Strike Group 5. The same profile counts 4,174 flight hours in 50 different aircraft and notes that he remains active in Coronado Rotary. That connects back to the 2011 procession, when Rotary members were the ones handing out flags.
The biography of CAPT Tad Chamberlain, written by a friend and former shipmate, includes a moment from his own career, as printed in the City's program:
"One night, the CAG came down and asked, 'Do you want to lead a strike tomorrow?' I said, 'Yeah, sure,' thinking it was another practice mission. He added, 'No, this is real! We are going to sink an Iranian ship under orders from the president (President Reagan)!'"
Chamberlain flew more than 5,000 hours over a 30-year Navy career. His final tour was with Naval Air Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, at NAS North Island, at the far end of the Avenue of Heroes. Details like these don't fit on a light-pole banner. They're read aloud at the ceremony, where volunteers present the biographies, and that's why the ceremony is worth attending.
Each honoree or their family or sponsor also receives a commemorative bag, a lapel pin, a complimentary Coronado Historical Association membership, a replica banner and the printed program.
Group XXIII, This Saturday Morning
The 23rd group of hometown heroes will be honored on Saturday, October 31. Per the City Manager's Update of October 16, the ceremony will recognize 12 veterans and active-duty service members, and their banners will hang along Third and Fourth Streets through May 2027.
- When: Saturday, October 31, 2026. Doors open at 10 a.m., and the ceremony runs from 10:30 a.m. to noon.
- Where: Coronado High School Performing Arts Center, 650 D Avenue.
- Cost: Free and open to the public.
- Getting there: Complimentary golf cart shuttles will be available, and light refreshments will be served.
The Group XXIII honorees are James Besikof, Henry Branch Nix, Charles Cellar, Lawrence Delworth Cummins, Donald Fledderjohn, Richard Greer, Paul Laedlein, William K. Martin, Louis David Milioti, William C. Nystul, Steven Schelkun and Douglas Weisbarth. Their full stories will appear in this fall's ceremony program, the same way the Group XXII stories did in May.
The date falls a little earlier than recent fall ceremonies. The Coronado Historical Association says new banners typically go up around Veterans Day in November and Memorial Day in May. Group XIX was honored on Saturday, November 2, 2024, and Group XXI on Saturday, November 1, 2025. This year's Saturday happens to be Halloween. The ceremony ends at noon, which leaves the afternoon free for the rest of Coronado's Halloween.
After Saturday, the Corridor and the Calendar
Once the ceremony is over, the new names stay on Third and Fourth from October 2026 through May 2027. Residents who want to keep marking the season can head across the bay later in November. The San Diego Veterans Day Parade runs Wednesday, November 11, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on Harbor Drive in downtown San Diego, in front of the County Administration Building.
The calendar also points ahead to the next group. With fall honorees named in late October and spring ceremonies held around Memorial Day, the next banners will come from nominations, which the City accepts on a continuing basis. Coronado is home to a large military community, and the program depends on a relative, neighbor or former shipmate putting a name forward. Military families recently stationed here also qualify. Our guide for military and executive relocations covers more about settling in. Under the program's rules, service while stationed at Naval Base Coronado counts as a Coronado connection, so the honorees don't all have to be longtime residents.
At The Clements Group, many of the families we work with are connected to the Navy community that the Avenue of Heroes honors, and we're proud to call Third and Fourth Streets part of our hometown. If you're new to Coronado and want help getting settled, or you're thinking about your family's next chapter on the island, we'd welcome the chance to talk. Schedule a private consultation.
