Fort Snelling National Cemetery is a

United States National Cemetery The United States National Cemetery System is a system of 164 military cemeteries in the United States and its territories. The authority to create military burial places came during the American Civil War, in an act passed by the U.S. ...

located in the

Fort Snelling Unorganized Territory Fort Snelling is an unincorporated area, unorganized territory of Hennepin County in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is named after historic Fort Snelling, which is located within its boundaries. The district also includes Coldwater Spring par ...

adjacent to the historic fort and

Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport — also less commonly known as Wold–Chamberlain Field — is a joint civil-military public international airport serving the Twin Cities in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is located in Fort ...

. It is the only National Cemetery in Minnesota. Administered by the

United States Department of Veterans Affairs The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing lifelong healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers an ...

, it covers , and as of June, 2024 had over 260,000 interments. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2016.

History

Fort Snelling Fort Snelling is a former military fortification and National Historic Landmark in the U.S. state of Minnesota on the bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. The military site was initially named Fort Saint An ...

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 The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

it served as a recruiting camp area for

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

volunteers. The cemetery was officially established in 1870. In 1937, the citizens of

St. Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

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 to the cemetery; another 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 Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. It i ...

, but as the cemetery grew, the staff was forced to stop. In 2017, the nonprofit Flags for Fort Snelling revived the tradition; volunteers placed 200,000 memorial flags in 2019. Fort Snelling National Cemetery Flag Poles

Fort Snelling National Cemetery Flag Poles

Fort Snelling National Cemetery Medal of Honor Flag

Notable interments

Medal of Honor recipients

* Second Lieutenant Donald E. Rudolph Sr., US Army,

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

recipient for action in the

Battle of Luzon The Battle of Luzon (; ; ) was a land battle of the Pacific Theater of Operations of World War II by the Allied forces of the U.S., its colony the Philippines, Mexico, and allies against forces of the Empire of Japan. The battle resulted in a U ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

* Captain Richard E. Fleming, USMC, for action at Midway in World War II (

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty grave, tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere or have been lost. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although t ...

, body was not recovered) * Private First Class Richard E. Kraus, USMC, for action at

Peleliu Peleliu (or Beliliou) is an island in the island nation of Palau. Peleliu, along with two small islands to its northeast, forms one of the sixteen states of Palau. The island is notable as the location of the Battle of Peleliu in World War II. ...

in World War II * Private First Class James D. LaBelle, USMC, for action at the

Battle of Iwo Jima The was a major battle in which the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and United States Navy (USN) landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during World War II. The American invasion, desi ...

during World War II * Captain Arlo Olson, US Army, for action in Italy during World War II * Staff Sergeant Robert J. Pruden, US Army, for action in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

* First Lieutenant Richard Keith Sorenson, USMC, for action on Kwajalein during World War II * Captain George H. Mallon, US Army, for actions in France during World War I * Machinist Mate First Class Oscar F. Nelson, US Navy, for heroism aboard the USS ''Bennington'' during peacetime

Other

George John Weiss Jr Recipient of the Presidential Citizens Medal and Founder of the Fort Snelling Memorial Rifle Squad *

Johnny Blanchard John Edwin Blanchard (February 26, 1933 – March 25, 2009) was an American professional baseball outfielder and catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Kansas City Athletics, and Milwaukee Braves. Career Bor ...

, baseball player * Thomas Edward Burnett Jr,

United Airlines Flight 93 United Airlines Flight 93 was a domestic scheduled passenger flight that was hijacked by four al-Qaeda terrorists on the morning of September 11, 2001, as part of the September 11 attacks. The hijackers planned to crash the plane into a feder ...

passenger *

Bob Casey Robert or Bob Casey may refer to: American politicians * Robert E. Casey (1909–1982), Pennsylvania Treasurer, 1977–1981 * Robert R. Casey (1915–1986), House of Representatives member from Texas *Robert F. Casey (1921–2006), Illinois House o ...

, baseball announcer * Mark H. Gehan, Mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota, Minnesota state representative, and lawyer, World War I *

Frank Eugene Hook Frank Eugene Hook (May 26, 1893 – June 21, 1982) was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. Early life Hook was born in L'Anse, Michigan and graduated from L'Anse High School in 1912. He attended the College of Law of the Univer ...

, US Congressman, World War I veteran * Dr. C. Walton Lillehei, pioneer of modern open-heart surgery * Corporal Charles W. Lindberg, last surviving member of the Marines who flag raised the flag on

Iwo Jima is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands, which lie south of the Bonin Islands and together with them make up the Ogasawara Subprefecture, Ogasawara Archipelago. Together with the Izu Islands, they make up Japan's Nanpō Islands. Although sout ...

during World War II *

Ernest Lundeen Ernest Lundeen (August 4, 1878August 31, 1940) was an American lawyer and politician who represented Minnesota in the United States House of Representatives from 1917 to 1919 and 1933 to 1937, and in the United States Senate from 1937 until his ...

, US Congressman *

John Mariucci John Peter Mariucci (May 8, 1916 – March 23, 1987) was an American ice hockey player, administrator and coach. Mariucci was born in Eveleth, Minnesota. He attended the University of Minnesota where he played for both the hockey and football ...

, hockey coach, member of the

United States Hockey Hall of Fame The United States Hockey Hall of Fame was established in 1973 with the goal of preserving the history of ice hockey in the United States while recognizing the extraordinary contributions of select players, coaches, administrators, officials an ...

* Hal Scott, sports announcer * Bruce P. Smith, 1941 football player,

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy ( ; also known simply as the Heisman) is awarded annually since 1935 to the top player in college football. It is considered the most prestigious award in the sport and is presented by the Heisman Trophy Trust followin ...

winner * Herbert J. Suerth, Replacement member of Easy Company 2/506th PIR, 101st Airborne Division, Band of Brothers * David C. Sutherland III, game artist * Major Tim Vakoc, US Army Chaplain mortally wounded in

Mosul Mosul ( ; , , ; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. It is the second largest city in Iraq overall after the capital Baghdad. Situated on the banks of Tigris, the city encloses the ruins of the ...

during the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

* Private Tracie McBride, rape and murder victim * John Clay Walker, American journalist, tortured and murdered in Mexico by members of the

Guadalajara Cartel The Guadalajara Cartel (), also known as The Federation (), was a Mexican drug cartel which was formed in the late 1970s by Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, Rafael Caro Quintero, and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo in order to ship cocaine and marijuan ...

Jim Klobuchar James John Klobuchar ( ; April 9, 1928 – May 12, 2021) was an American journalist, author, and newspaper columnist from Minnesota. Klobuchar was regarded as a regionally well-known and admired local sports and politics reporter during his lon ...

, Minnesota journalist and author The cemetery contains one British Commonwealth war grave, of a

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; ) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environmental commands within the unified Can ...

airman of

.
CWGC Casualty Record.

References

External links

National Cemetery Administration

Fort Snelling National Cemetery
* * *
CWGC: Fort Snelling National Cemetery
{{Authority control Burials at Fort Snelling National Cemetery, Historic American Landscapes Survey in Minnesota Protected areas of Hennepin County, Minnesota United States national cemeteries National Register of Historic Places in Hennepin County, Minnesota Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in the United States 1939 establishments in Minnesota Cemeteries established in the 1930s