[IRCNews] Opportunity to help maintain monument for the USS Indianapolis, CA35 Memorial

[Ken Bandy, KJ9B]

The Indianapolis Ham Community has a long history of working with the
Indiana War Memorials Foundation.  Many will remember Mike Koss, W9SU - SK.
Mike hosted an exquisite DX, contest, and special event club station until
his untimely death in 2011.  Mike, and his club members set many DX records,
and hosted several special event stations, including W87PAX for the 1987 Pan
American Games, held in Indianapolis, as well as the W9IMS series of special
events held for the races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, that still is
operational today.  Anyway, Mike was very involved with the USS
Indianapolis, CA35 Memorial
(https://www.indianawarmemorials.org/explore/uss-indianapolis-memorial/)
located at the north end of the Canal Walk in downtown Indy.  Since before
Mike's passing, Barry Fairfax, KW9DX, has been helping the War Memorial crew
with the upkeep and maintenance of the CA35 Memorial.  According to Barry,
his involvement amounts to about 3 or 4 visits per year:  Spring hosing off
the monument and general Spring cleanup;  A late Summer visit to supplement
the War Memorial outside crew with weeding and making sure the fountain is
clean, and in the Fall, hosing off the monument and getting rid of remaining
weeds.

As Barry says, "It has been an honor to continue what we started with Mike,
but it is time to get younger and more people involved."  Barry has been
doing his volunteer work on the monument for 10 years now, and is planning
on doing some more travelling, so he would like to find someone, or a group,
to whom he might hand over the care of the monument.  He would like to be
able to make the hand-off by the end of June and advise General Goodwin,
Executive Director of the Indiana War Memorials, who he will be working with
to ensure a smooth transition.  If you are interested in working with Barry
on the monument, contact him at barrylovestennis at gmail.com.

73,
Ken, KJ9B