The City of Fishers will honor local veterans and their families Wednesday at its annual Veterans Day ceremony.
The city and the Fishers Armed Services Commission are presenting the free event. It begins at 11 a.m. Nov. 11 in the Theater at Fishers Municipal Center, 1 Municipal Drive, and is open to the public. If you can’t attend in person, you can watch the livestream on the city’s YouTube channel.
This year’s keynote speaker is retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Tim Winslow. He is executive director of the Indiana War Memorials and Museum and assistant director of the Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs.
Winslow oversees the Indiana World War Memorial Historic District in downtown Indianapolis. The district includes the Indiana War Memorial building and museum, the Soldiers and Sailors Monument and 25 acres of monuments honoring Hoosier veterans. In his Veterans Affairs role, he supports the Indiana Veterans Home, the Indiana Veterans Memorial Cemetery, the Military Family Relief Fund and other assistance programs.
Winslow served more than 37 years in the military, including two combat deployments. He is a master Army aviator with 2,500 flight hours and is qualified in five aircraft. His assignments included interim adjutant general of the Indiana National Guard, commander of the 81st Troop Command, Indiana director of the Joint Staff and chief of staff of the 38th Infantry Division.
He received his commission through Purdue University’s Army ROTC program. He holds master’s degrees in business administration and strategic studies and is a graduate of the U.S. Army War College. Then-Gov. Eric Holcomb named him a Sagamore of the Wabash.
His wife, Dr. Catherine Winslow, is a former Army lieutenant colonel. She was inducted into the Indiana Military Veterans Hall of Fame in 2022.
Year-round tributes
The ceremony is one of several ways Fishers honors veterans throughout the year.
Residents can request a $50 light pole banner honoring a veteran. The banners hang around the Central Green and the Nickel Plate District Amphitheater. Photos must be at least 4 by 6 inches, 600 dpi, and in PNG or JPG format. The city prefers close-up photos of the veteran in uniform, from the waist up or as a headshot. The city’s website has an interactive map of existing banners.
Families can also buy an engraved brick paver for the Liberty Plaza walkway at the center of the Nickel Plate District Central Green. An 8-by-4-inch paver costs $100, and an 8-by-8-inch paver costs $200. Questions about pavers go to Samantha Wisecup, the city’s community outreach manager.
Through its Hometown Help for Heroes program, the Fishers Department of Public Works also helps families with a deployed head of household. The program provides driveway and sidewalk snow removal plus lawn mowing and trimming. It is open to any Fishers family with at least one head of household currently deployed in a branch of the armed forces.
More information is at this link.