Hoosiers advocate new memorial

INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indianapolis businessman is leading a campaign to build what he said he believed was the first memorial in the nation devoted to National Guard members.\nThe Hoosier Patriot Memorial would be designed to honor those Guard members who lost their lives while serving and to tell the 200-year-old history of the organization, organizer Bert Pettygrove said.\nThe memorial, designed by the Indianapolis architectural firm RQAW, will be privately funded and built with only Indiana materials. Ground should be broken in May at Washington Park East Cemetery on the city's east side, Pettygrove said.\nThe memorial will use Indiana limestone monoliths and incorporate the largest state seal in Indiana. Native plants and trees will surround the area.\nIndiana National Guard Lt. Col. Larry Powers said the Guard was honored private citizens have spent their time and resources on the monument.\nPowers said the Indiana National Guard is the fifth largest in the nation with 14,000 active members.\n"This is about Hoosiers, for Hoosiers and by Hoosiers in a testament to the past and a monument to the vision of the future," Powers said.