The 3,436 names etched in glass

If you hang out here for a bit, you can catch a 30-minute audio tour through the speakers. It walks you through different wars and features stories from people who earned the Medal of Honor, which is the top military award in the country. Some of those recordings were even done by the recipients themselves.

After reading an article in The New York Times about a meeting in upstate New York, John Hodowal, chairman of the Indianapolis-based Indianapolis Power & Light (IPALCO), and his wife, Caroline, were inspired to assist in the creation of a memorial to honor these individuals. The site chosen was the same area where Indianapolis's first recorded Independence Day celebration was held and where a military camp stood during the U.S. Civil War.

The installation is pretty massive, featuring 27 glass panels set in concrete bases and Indiana limestone in shades of buff, gray, and pink. These are arranged into 15 walls, with each wall representing a different armed conflict. By the time they opened the site in 1999, they had already finished etching the names of 3,436 recipients into the glass. The monument was sponsored by IPALCO Enterprises.

The memorial also contains an elaborate lighting system that illuminates certain panels to correspond with the audio tour. The monument is located on the north bank of the Indiana Central Canal, adjacent to Military Park.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons