One year from now, you will likely be able to make the pilgrimage to an expanded 9 11 memorial in Indianapolis, which is now the Indiana 9 11 Memorial. For eight years the beams from the World Trade Center have reached toward the sky on West Ohio St., in downtown Indianapolis. The hope is that an expansion will make it a destination for all Hoosiers.
“What we’re really interested in is to make sure that the generations that come after us, that they understand about why things happened,” said Brigadier General Stewart Goodwin,USAF (retired), exec. director of the Indiana War Memorials.
“We’re in a time in our country where monuments have gotten a bad name because they didn’t meet a certain criteria. But, the fact is monuments are very important because they make physical records of what happened in our country.”
The physical record for Indiana will be bigger and will contain a memorial to the members of the military who have been killed fighting terrorism since Sept. 11, 2001, and a memorial to Lt. Gen Tim Maude, a Hoosier and the most senior Army officer killed in action since World War II.
“He was the…deputy chief of staff for personnel for the entire Army. Think about that, active Guard and Reserve, this was the officer in charge of all those personnel matters for all of those soldiers,” said Goodwin, who grew up knowing Maude.
Maude was killed when American Airlines flight 77 crashed into the west side of the Pentagon.
Goodwin said a piece of Indiana limestone from the wall of the Pentagon will also be mounted in the new space.
He said that for the first few years of the memorial’s existence the military was not memorialized, in favor of a focus on first responders. So, the Indiana War Memorials Commission did not take on the responsibility of oversight when asked.
“We didn’t want to step on anybody’s toes,” said Goodwin.
But, in 2016, the commission relented because of the 5,000 military members who had been killed in combat.
“Adding the military aspect of this takes nothing away from the police, fire, and the emergency medical services folks. What they went through and what they did, they will always be heroes.”
Goodwin asked that people who are interested join the commission for an event at 10 a.m. Friday, at the memorial. The goal is to raise $450,000 for the memorial upgrades and to unveil them for the 20th anniversary.
