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Minnesota Vets Cemetery open to all veterans

Decorah Newspapers - 1/3/2017

The Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery isn't just for Minnesotans.

At its regular meeting Tuesday, the Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors heard a presentation from Rob Gross, director of the Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery in Preston, Minn.

"The name is deceptive ? It's for veterans from anywhere in the nation," said Gross.

Gross explained the Preston cemetery is one of two in the state. The other is located in Little Falls, Minn. Plans are in the works to create two additional cemeteries for veterans in Duluth and Redwood Falls.

The Preston site sits on 169 acres of donated land. There are 4,000 gravesites mapped out at present, with plans to develop up to 40,000 in the future.

"The cemetery is designed to serve veterans within a 70-mile radius of Preston," said Gross.

Gross said the first burials were performed on Veterans Day, 2015, and the cemetery hosted 174 total burials in its first year of operation.

It employs six full-time, state of Minnesota employees. The group cares for the road, and sets headstones, oversees burials, placement grass, flowers and trees.

"Our ground work alone takes two people full time," he said.

A free service

Gross explained eligible veterans can be buried at no cost.

"There are no opening and closing fees and no perpetual care," said Gross.

Gross explained there is no cost to bury a veteran, and a veteran's spouse can be buried there for $745.

A burial includes a gravesite or columbarian niche (an above-ground option for cremated remains), a pre-placed graveliner (standard size), headstone/niche cover and perpetual care.

Winneshiek County Veterans Affairs Administrator Faith Hlubek added although a veteran's burial -- including a plot or vault ? is free, and there are no opening or closing fees and no charges for perpetual care, a family may incure costs associated with the services of a private funeral home.

Military honors

Gross said all veterans are provided with military honors, if requested.

"We work with 18 rifle and bugle squads from around the tri-state area. We also will have at least two members present from the military branch the veteran was affiliated with," he said, with the exception of the Merchant Marine, for which the Navy team will serve.

"We have a committal shelter for private family services. The military ceremonies are quite impressive to see," said Gross.

How it works

Gross said there are no income requirements for being buried in Preston.

Burial is open to all veterans discharged from active military service under conditions other than dishonorable.

Their spouses, minor children, and under certain conditions, unmarried adult children, are also eligible for burial. Eligible spouses may be buried even if they predecease the veteran.

Also eligible for burial are members of the reserve components of the Armed Forces, the National Guard and the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) who die while on active duty for training or performing service or who have 20 years of service in reserve components of the Armed Forces creditable for retired pay.

Preregistration encouraged

Gross said in order to be eligible, the family or next-of-kin needs to provide a copy of the veteran's military discharge document, or a DD214 must be provided to establish the veteran's eligibility.

Because it can take some time to verify a person's eligibility, Gross encourages those who might be interested to preregister.

"Right now we've got between 600 and 650 registrations and about 30 percent of those are from Iowa," he said.

Preregistration and advance approval allows a person's burial to be scheduled within minutes of the request.

Preregistration applications are available at the cemetery offices, through local county veterans services or online at MinnesotaVeteran.org/cem.