Fort Snelling National Cemetery

Fort Snelling National Cemetery
Details
Established	1939
Location	Fort Snelling, Minnesota
Country	United States
Coordinates	44°52′11″N 93°12′51″W
Type	Public
Size	436.3 acres (176.6 ha)
No. of graves	225,000
Website	Official
Find a Grave	Fort Snelling National Cemetery

Fort Snelling National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located at Fort Snelling just south of Minneapolis in Hennepin County, Minnesota. It is the older of the two national cemeteries in the state. Administered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, it encompasses 436.3 acres (176.6 ha), and as of 2017 had over 225,000 interments. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

History

Fort Snelling was a frontier fort first established in 1819. Its original purpose was to keep the peace on what was then the western frontier. During the American Civil War it served as a recruiting camp area for Minnesota volunteers. The cemetery was officially established in 1870.

In 1937, the citizens of St. Paul, petitioned Congress to construct a National Cemetery in the area. Two years later, the new plot was dedicated, and the burials from the original post cemetery were moved to it. In 1960, the Fort Snelling Air Force Station transferred 146 acres (59 ha) to the cemetery; another 177 acres (0.72 km²) were acquired in 1961, expanding the cemetery to its current size.

There was a tradition of placing a flag on every grave on Memorial Day, but as the cemetery grew, the staff was forced to stop. In 2017, the nonprofit Flags for Fort Snelling attempted to revive the tradition.

Notable interments

• Medal of Honor recipients
  • Second Lieutenant Donald E. Rudolph, Sr., U.S. Army, for action in the Battle of Luzon in World War II.
  • Captain Richard E. Fleming, USMC, for action at Midway in World War II. (Memorial grave site only, body was not recovered)
  • Private First Class Richard E. Kraus, USMC, for action at Peleliu in World War II.
  • Private First Class James D. LaBelle, USMC, for action at the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II.
  • Captain Arlo Olson, US Army, for action in Italy during World War II.
  • Staff Sergeant Robert J. Pruden, U.S. Army, for action in the Vietnam War.
  • First Lieutenant Richard Keith Sorenson, USMC, for action on Kwajalein during World War II.
  • Captain George H. Mallon, U.S. Army, for actions in France during World War I.
  • Machinist Mate First Class Oscar F. Nelson, U.S. Navy, for heroism aboard the USS Bennington during peacetime.
• Others
  • Johnny Blanchard, baseball player
  • Thomas Edward Burnett, Jr, United Airlines Flight 93 passenger.
  • Bob Casey, baseball announcer.
  • Frank Eugene Hook, US Congressman, World War I veteran.
  • Dr. C. Walton Lillehei, known as "Father of modern day Open-Heart Surgery."
  • Corporal Charles W. Lindberg, last surviving member of the Marines who flag raised the flag on Iwo Jima during World War II.
  • Ernest Lundeen, US Congressman.
  • John Mariucci, hockey coach, member of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame.
  • Bruce P. Smith, 1941 football player, Heisman Trophy winner.
  • David C. Sutherland III, game artist.
  • Major Tim Vakoc, US Army Chaplain mortally wounded in Mosul during the Iraq War.
  • Private Tracie McBride, rape and murder victim
• The cemetery contains one British Commonwealth war grave, of a Royal Canadian Air Force airman of World War II.

External links

• National Cemetery Administration
• Fort Snelling National Cemetery
• Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) No. MN-1, "Fort Snelling National Cemetery, 7601 34th Avenue South, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, MN", 46 photos, 4 photo caption pages
• U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Fort Snelling National Cemetery

• CWGC: Fort Snelling National Cemetery