GREENWOOD, Ind. — A veterans memorial over twenty years in the making may soon begin construction in Greenwood.
The Greater Greenwood Veterans Memorial Committee is working with a group from Leadership Johnson County, to bring the project to life. Leadership Johnson County, a class taught by Franklin College, requires its students to do a community service project.
Tom Brodbeck, a current member of the class, says the veterans memorial immediately jumped to mind.
“While discussing project ideas for our group, one thing that has always stuck out in my mind is when I would visit Freedom Park in Greenwood. There was always this white sign with black letters there, that said it was the future site of a veterans memorial,” said Brodbeck. “The sign isn’t even there anymore, and I always wondered, whatever happened to that veterans memorial that was supposed to be built?”
Brodbeck says he and his group immediately began research on the memorial. According to Brodbeck, the memorial was first proposed after 9/11, but various complications, including design work, COVID, and construction costs, prevented it from being built.
In addition, the project had to be relocated from Freedom Park in Greenwood to downtown Greenwood, on the northwest corner of Surina Way and Meridian Street.
“They moved it from Freedom Park because — that place, with the white sign and black letters — that place ended up being a flood zone,” explained Brodbeck.
Eventually, Brodbeck and his group started reaching out to various sources, in an attempt to rekindle the project. Now, in collaboration with the Greater Greenwood Veterans Memorial Committee and St. Pierre Funeral Homes, Brodbeck’s group is laying the groundwork for the memorial to be built.
“[The memorial] is going to be circular in shape, and in the center of this circle will be a tall granite pillar, with a large bronze eagle on the top,” said Brodbeck. “Surrounding that pillar will be a six foot tall black slab of granite, and each black tablet is supposed to represent a different branch of the military.”
He adds, the memorial will also feature benches and bricks honoring those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
“Greeenwood doesn’t really have an area set aside to honor the veterans,” said Brodbeck. “I think it would be cool to build this large memorial that will be there in downtown Greenwood that can hold future ceremonies and just really honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice.”
However, the project is still attempting to meet its fundraising goals to cover the construction costs. The GoFundMe is still being set up, but if you would like to know more about how to help, head to the project’s Facebook page.
Construction is set to begin in the spring of 2022.
