Looking both large and deceptively small from the outside, the Indiana War Memorial is located in the center of Indianapolis. Susie and I were there for a visit with good buddy Jeff, whom I’ve known since before kindergarten. We both migrated west after college, both of us did so for work, and Jeff staked his claim as a Hoosier. We spent a few days recently bopping around Indiana and Ohio and it was a hoot. One of the first places we stopped was the center of downtown Indianapolis, and we wandered into the amazing and impressive Indiana War Memorial. It wasn’t on our itinerary; it just looked interesting, it was open, and we entered.
The name is a bit misleading, as the Indiana War Memorial is both a memorial and a world class military museum, tracing the history of American combat from the Revolutionary War to our most recent conflicts in Vietnam and Afghanistan. The building itself is impressive, with tall halls and huge lower level display areas. The displays are impressive. So is the architecture.
The Indiana War Memorial wasn’t crowded; in fact, we had the place to ourselves.
Peering up in the main tower, this hall focuses on The Great War.
Moving on to the lower floors, the displays focus on the Civil War, the Spanish American War, World War II, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan conflicts.
This is an interesting exhibit from Gettysburg, which we had visited just a few weeks ago.
I enjoyed the small arms displays. That’s my buddy Jeff in the photo below.
One of the last halls we viewed focused on the Vietnam War. This is a Huey Cobra helicopter with a three-barreled Gatling gun mounted in the nose.
Admission was free, and during our visit we had an extra treat. When we first entered the Indiana War Memorial, we had a nice chat with a guy about our age. Jeff mentioned that his father had served in World War II, and that I had served in the US Army. Our new friend told us he had been in the Air Force. As the conversation progressed, we learned that we were speaking with a retired general officer, who was now the Director of the Indiana War Memorial (General Stewart Goodwin).
Never miss an ExNotes blog:
I worked in Indiana (mid nineties) for half a year. I met a lot of locals and many times I asked the same question… “What does Hoosier mean?” … I never got a straight answer. I suppose I could Google it but what’s the fun in that.
I googled it and the answers were what my friend Jeff told me…lots of theories but nothing definite.
cool museum. thanks.
Hoosiers were corn barge workers , got the name from some indians word for corn. hosa? husa?
You bet!
Hack, I’ll throw that on the pile of maybes. I heard it was because there was a big women’s nylon stocking factory. As in pantyhose. And the people who worked there were called “Hoosiers”. Sound sketchy?… yup. But typical. On the job I was working on, when I saw the interaction between some of the men with their bosses, I came up with my own explanation based on the sound of the word “hoosier”. I won’t say here what my theory was but when I announced it to my coworkers during a coffee break they fell about laughing so hard, one particular old timer nearly had a heart attack.