On October 13, 2021, dignitaries, special guests and members of the community attended a groundbreaking ceremony for what will become the fourth Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery. Even in the middle of a fall rainstorm, nearly 200 guests united in Redwood Falls to celebrate the beginning of building out an 81-acre site to serve as a final resting place for Veterans and their families in southwestern Minnesota.

This project has been more than a decade in the making. According to MDVA Commissioner Larry Herke, the goal is to provide a cemetery option closer to home for Veterans living in southwestern Minnesota. Currently, the closest Veterans Cemetery (Ft. Snelling), is more than 100 miles away.

Groundbreaking event presenters who shared their personal experiences with this project included Governor Tim Walz; U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar; State Senator Gary Dahms; State Representative Paul Torkelson; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration Director George D. Eisenbach, Jr; Redwood County Board of Commissioners Chair Jim Salfer; U.S. Navy Veteran and elder from the Lower Sioux Tribal Community Lydia M. Conito; and MDVA Commissioner Larry Herke.

Other honored attendees included State Senator Andrew Lang and Aaron Pollard, Deputy Secretary of the South Dakota Department of Veterans Affairs.

Several area County Veterans Service Officers also helped to break ground including Dustin Hunter of Redwood County, Heidi Fier of Lyon County, Tim Kolhei of Chippewa County, Josh Beninga of Lac qui Parle County, Kris Holien of Yellow Medicine County, and John Schotzko and Greg Peterson of Brown County.

This cemetery will eventually accommodate more than 22,300 interments. The first of 10 planned construction phases is scheduled to open in fall 2022 with a dedication ceremony tentatively scheduled for spring 2023.

Veterans interested in pre-planning their funerals or applying for a burial site should contact their CVSO.

The Cemetery will be hiring five full-time, one part-time and two seasonal employees to start. an estimated seven full-time administrative and grounds staff.

View photos of the event here.