William Kofoed, known as Bill, earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and was made a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order for his service in the New Zealand air force in World War 2.
He also farmed in Berwick, as did his parents, and residents in the area Lindsay and Sandra Hay have long been irked by the spelling of Koefords Rd.
The name goes back to Robert Twelftree, who farmed in Berwick from 1859.
The Kofoed family used to be neighbours of Mr Hay.
"Our families got on well together — the Hays and the Kofoeds," Mr Hay said.
Aware of the Twelvetrees misspelling, he and his wife figured both signs should be replaced at the same time.
Mr Hay said the spelling issue was first raised 20-odd years ago and recent efforts led by Mrs Hay and involving the Mosgiel-Taieri Community Board had yielded the right result.
The Dunedin City Council this week confirmed it was planning to replace signage for both roads in the coming days, as it had noted historical inaccuracies.
"We have since confirmed that the correct spelling for these roads is Kofoed Rd and Twelftree Rd," a council spokesman said.
Maps will also need to be updated.
The Taieri Historical Society and Museum forwarded information about both William Kofoed and Robert Twelftree to the Otago Daily Times.
Mr Kofoed joined the RNZAF in 1940 as a leading aircraftsman and flew Halifax bombers on several raids in Europe.
On one sortie over Sicily, a photoflash exploded in the fuselage of his aircraft and Squadron Leader Kofoed managed an eight-hour flight back to base, his DSO citation said.
The plane is now in the Auckland War Memorial Museum.
Mr Kofoed died in 1978.
Mr Twelftree tried his luck prospecting gold in Australia, before moving to Dunedin, then Berwick.
He was chairman of the school committee for at least three decades.
Mrs Hay said a Twelftree wagon was in the Toitū Otago Settlers Museum.
It was important to have history accurately reflected, she said.
"These families are the pioneers down the bottom end of the Taieri."
Mr Hay said after the issue had been left unresolved for a while he and his wife decided they needed to keep at it.
"It’s just something that we see every day," he said.
Mrs Hay had to do research and it helped a book about Berwick had been written.
Gwenda Holmes, 94, author of The Berwick Story, said she was pleased to hear the spelling of the families’ names would be corrected.
The council spokesman said decisions about changing the spellings of signs were made on a case-by-case basis after provision of evidence and community benefit was assessed.
