Operation Fallen Hero honors the men and women from Hawthorne who made the supreme sacrifice. This project began in 2011 by Mayor Richard Goldberg when he was approached by a friend of Vietnam War Marine Billy Dutches who wanted a street named after his friend. Mayor Goldberg agreed to ceremonial name a street in his honor: Kingston Avenue at the corner of Lincoln Avenue, and this tradition of naming streets in honor of our servicemen and servicewomen has continued for 14 years.
Hawthorne resident and Marine Paul Chepurko published a book Small Town-Big Sacrifice which tells the stories of those men and women. There are seventy-six stories of courage, valor, sacrifice and loss, and of those they left behind.
In 2022 current Mayor John V. Lane continued this tradition, and this will continue until all of those who died in service to their country will be so honored.
All of the remaining street dedication signs are now up throughout town. This was completed mid-May 2025 in time for the Memorial Day Service to be held on Monday, May 26, 2025 at Noon in front of Borough Hall.
Bios and street locations of all of the servicemen and servicewoman will be posted on this page in the summer of 2025.
List of Street Dedications can be found here.