California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 163

Introduced by Assembly Member Atkins

April 4, 2016

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 163—Relative to a Blue Star Memorial Highway.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

ACR 163, as introduced, Atkins. Blue Star Memorial Highway.

This measure would designate State Highway Route 282 from Orange Avenue in the City of Coronado to Naval Air Station North Island as a Blue Star Memorial Highway. The measure would request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate plaques and markers showing that designation, and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources sufficient to cover that cost, to erect the appropriate plaques and markers.

Fiscal committee: yes.

WHEREAS, The Blue Star Memorial Highway Marker program
was adopted in 1945 by the National Council of State Garden
Clubs and was approved by California Garden Clubs, Inc. in 1947;
and

WHEREAS, The Blue Star Memorial Highway Marker program
began after World War II to pay tribute to the nation’s Armed
Forces by designating state and national routes as Blue Star
Memorial Highways. The purpose of the Blue Star Memorial
Highway Marker program is to erect highway markers at roadside
rest stops, vista points, historical sites, and other appropriate areas
to pay tribute to all who have served, those who are presently
serving, and those who will serve in the nation’s Armed Forces;
and

WHEREAS, Members of the Avenue of Heroes Neighborhood
Association from the City of Coronado, California, wish to erect
markers along State Highway Route 282 from Orange Avenue in
the City of Coronado to Naval Air Station North Island to honor
all of the military branches that formed today’s North Island and
our current service members who are still making sacrifices for
our country; and

WHEREAS, The association presented this proposal to the
National Council of State Garden Clubs; and

WHEREAS, From international explorers to the First Aero
Squadron and from the Spanish-American War to the War on
Terror, North Island has been a strategic military post and home
to all branches of the United States Armed Forces. North Island
served as a base for the beginnings of Army and naval flight, was
modernized by the United States Marine Corps, and was an
incubator for the United States Coast Guard, Signal Corps, and
Air Force; and

WHEREAS, The City of Coronado has the reputation as a “Navy
Town,” unchanging in its beautiful Victorian architecture. It has
become home to all branches of the armed services and has
included many illustrious and famous military retirees; and

WHEREAS, The designation of State Highway Route 282 as a
Blue Star Memorial Highway is intended to be in conjunction with
the City of Coronado’s Avenue of Heroes Banner Program to honor
such heroes as Navy Seal Petty Officer First Class Jeffrey S.
Taylor, who was killed in action on June 28, 2005, when the
MH-47 helicopter he was aboard on a rescue mission crashed in
Kunar Province, Afghanistan; the late Lt. Gen. James Harold
“Jimmy” Doolittle, a Medal of Honor recipient, who led 16
American Mitchell B-25 bombers on April 18, 1942, from the deck
of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet on a raid to bomb the Japanese
mainland during World War II and who later commanded the
powerful Eighth Air Force in Europe and the Pacific from January
1944 to September 1945; the late Vice Adm. James Bond
Stockdale, Medal of Honor recipient, Vietnam War hero, and
indomitable spirit of the Hanoi Hilton, who was shot down by
antiaircraft fire after flying his A-4 Skyhawk off the deck of the
aircraft carrier USS Oriskany on his last mission and was
imprisoned in the Hanoi Hilton by the North Vietnamese; the late
United States Navy Commander Francis Fane, who joined the
Navy’s underwater demolitions team during World War II,
becoming a legend in Navy special forces, developing advanced
diving equipment and diving techniques, and laying much of the
groundwork for the future Navy Seals; Navy Commander Dean
“Diz” Laird, who became the only known U.S. Navy ace to shoot
down both German and Japanese airplanes during World War II;
Navy Commander Theodore “Spuds” Ellyson, who, while stationed
at North Island, the first naval officer assigned to aviation duty,
the first passenger of a seaplane, the first pilot to land on water at
night, and was the first and only commander of North Island’s
Camp Trouble; Maj. Gen. Joseph H. Pendleton of the United States
Marine Corps, whose foresight, persuasive skills, and focused
tenacity made the San Diego area the military center it is today;
and, among many more heroes to be honored, Navy Capt. Leonard
“Len” Kaine, who became a Top Gun fighter pilot and who was
twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize; and

WHEREAS, The Blue Star Memorial Highway will honor more
than 34 past and present members of the Armed Forces along State
Highway Route 282’s Avenue of Heroes in the City of Coronado
and the list will continue to grow as more banners are added and
heroes are recognized; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates State
Highway Route 282 from Orange Avenue in the City of Coronado
to Naval Air Station North Island as a Blue Star Memorial
Highway; and be it further

Resolved, That the Department of Transportation is requested
to determine the cost of appropriate plaques and markers, consistent
with the signing requirements for the state highway system,
showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations
from nonstate sources sufficient to cover the cost, to erect those
plaques and markers; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the Director of Transportation and to the author
for appropriate distribution.