MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- For the Corona family, flying flags just wasn’t enough to show their support for America’s military.

Instead, the Corona’s chose to show appreciation with an 8-acre corn crop formation, which displays all the armed forces in action from an aerial view.

The formation, which doubles as a maze, was unveiled in Temecula, at its official grand opening Monday.

The maze depicts the Marines flag raising at Iwo Jima, the Army in an M-1 Abrams Main Battle Tank, the Navy’s Battleship BB-63 Missouri, and the Air Force in an F-16 Fighter Falcon.

Stephen J. Corona, a Temecula farmer, said parts of the corn crop were removed to make the design in the larger portion of the crop that still stands.

“My brother sent the design back three or four times to get the maze right,” said Rose Corona.

Since June, siblings Stephen and Rose Corona toiled in Temecula soil to grow the corn crop that stands 12 feet tall.

For Rose Corona, the three months they spent cultivating corn crop was the least they could do.

“It’s our little contribution,” said Rose Corona for family owned and operated Corona Ranch and Big Horse Feed and Mercantile in Temecula.

“We really appreciate what our military does for our country. It affords me to have my business,” said Rose Corona.

Although this year’s maze is new, the Corona’s aren’t rookies when it comes to making crop mazes.

“We’ve been doing this since 1999,” Rose Corona said.

Since then, they’ve been getting plenty of visitors.

“We have lots of people flying over it all the time,” Rose Corona said.

“It’s too bad more people can’t see it,” added Mary Corona, Rose and Stephen’s mother.

According to Mary Corona, people might have a problem seeing the crop, not birds.

“We’ve got a lot of birds, too bad they can’t appreciate what’s written,” Mary Corona giggled.

The Corona’s found yet another way to give back to the military.

Rose said her family is giving half off admission to military families with military identification during their tribute this weekend.

“Just load up your minivans and come on down,” Stephen Corona said.

With all the family has done, Rose still feels a debt to the military.

“We can never repay what the military does for this country. They give their time to the military — you can never give that back,”
Rose Corona said.

For more information on this year’s maze contact Rose Corona at rosecorona@ bighorsefeed.com.