The city of Chula Vista dedicated seven new streets Friday that are named for local members of the military killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The roadways are in the Village 2 development in Otay Ranch. The naming stemmed from a partnership between the city and developer Baldwin & Sons.
Around 200 people attended the ceremony, including families the honorees, who were given commemorative street signs.
The roads were named for:
- Salem Bachar, a U.S. Marine corporal who died at age 20 in a 2006 battle in Fallujah, Iraq
- Michael Idanan, 21, a U.S. Army specialist killed in 2005 when a roadside bomb exploded near his Humvee south of Mosul, Iraq
- Kristofferson Lorenzo, a 33-year-old U.S. Army staff sergeant who died in 2011 when a device exploded in Kunar province, Afghanistan
- Michael Martinez, 24, a U.S. Army sergeant killed in combat in 2007 in Baghdad
- Joshua Mattero, a 29-year-old U.S. Army staff sergeant who died in 2007 when a device he was trying to defuse exploded northeast of Baghdad
- Curtis Spivey, 25, a U.S. Army specialist who died in 2007 of wounds suffered in an explosion in Baghdad the previous year
- Charles Wyckoff Jr., 28, a sergeant with the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division killed by gunfire while on patrol in Afghanistan
“I’m sure my son is here, and I’m sure from heaven he is looking at this and he’s very proud and very happy to see this,” Martha Bachar, Salem’s mother, told Fox5 San Diego. “His sacrifice is not forgotten.”
Young Landon Martinez, son of Michael, told the station, “Look at this, we have a street name. My dad sacrificed just for us and now I’m just so proud of him. I will never stop being proud of him.”
The seven streets joined over 85 roadways in Chula Vista named to honor the South Bay city’s veterans.
In addition to each name, the street signs are red, white and blue with a flag and notation on each individual.
—City News Service
