View source for Fort Snelling National Cemetery

{{Short description|Veterans cemetery in Hennepin County, Minnesota}}
{{Infobox cemetery
|name = Fort Snelling National Cemetery
|image =Fort Snelling National Cemetery.jpg
|imagesize = 250px
|caption = Memorial Day 2018 at<br> Fort Snelling National Cemetery
|established = 1939
|country = United States
|location = [[Fort Snelling Unorganized Territory]], [[Minnesota]]
|coordinates = {{coord|44|52|15|N|93|13|11|W|region:US-MN_scale:10000_type:landmark_source:GNIS|display=inline,title}}
|type = Public
|owner =
|size = {{convert|436.3|acre}}
|graves= >260,000
|website = [http://www.cem.va.gov/CEM/cems/nchp/ftsnelling.asp Official]
|findagraveid= 82339
}}

'''Fort Snelling National Cemetery''' is a [[United States National Cemetery]] located in the [[Fort Snelling Unorganized Territory]] adjacent to the historic
fort and [[Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport]]. It is the only National Cemetery in Minnesota. Administered by the [[United States Department of Veterans Affairs]], it covers {{convert|436.3|acres}}, and as of June, 2024 had over 260,000 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 [[Saint Paul, Minnesota|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 {{convert|146|acre}} to the cemetery; another {{convert|177|acre|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 revived the tradition;<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.fox9.com/news/256293689-story|title=Nonprofit seeks help placing flags at every Ft. Snelling grave on Memorial Day|work=Fox KMSP|access-date=2017-05-23|language=en-US|archive-date=2017-07-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701085335/http://www.fox9.com/news/256293689-story|url-status=dead}}</ref> volunteers placed 200,000 memorial flags in 2019.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2019/05/26/fort-snelling-volunteers-place-200k-memorial-flags/ |title=Fort Snelling Volunteers Place 200K Memorial Flags |last=Steiner |first=Katie |date=May 26, 2019 |publisher=[[WCCO-TV|WCCO]] |access-date=November 12, 2019 }}</ref>

[[File:Fort Snelling National Cemetery Flag Poles.jpg|thumb|right|Flag Posts at Fort Snelling National Cemetery]]

[[File:Fort Snelling National Cemetery Medal of Honor Flag.jpg|thumb|right|Medal of Honor Flag Post]]

== Notable interments ==
===Medal of Honor recipients===
* Second Lieutenant [[Donald Rudolph|Donald E. Rudolph Sr.]], US Army, [[Medal of Honor]] recipient for action in the [[Battle of Luzon]] in [[World War II]]
* Captain [[Richard E. Fleming]], USMC, for action at [[Battle of Midway|Midway]] in World War II ([[cenotaph]], 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]], US Army, for action in the [[Vietnam War]]
* First Lieutenant [[Richard K. Sorenson|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]], baseball player
* [[Tom Burnett (Flight 93 passenger)|Thomas Edward Burnett Jr]], [[United Airlines Flight 93]] passenger
* [[Bob Casey (baseball announcer)|Bob Casey]], baseball announcer
* [[Mark H. Gehan]], Mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota, Minnesota state representative, and lawyer, World War I
* [[Frank Eugene Hook]], 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]] during World War II
* [[Ernest Lundeen]], US Congressman
* [[John Mariucci]], hockey coach, member of the [[United States Hockey Hall of Fame]]
* [[Hal Scott]], sports announcer
* [[Bruce Smith (Heisman)|Bruce P. Smith]], 1941 football player, [[Heisman Trophy]] winner
* [[David C. Sutherland III]], game artist<ref name="CBC obit">{{cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/dungeons-and-dragons-artist-dies-1.546117|title=Dungeons and Dragons artist dies|date=June 15, 2005|publisher=[[CBC News]]|access-date=March 2, 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080630060748/http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2005/06/15/sutherland050614.html|archive-date=2008-06-30}}</ref>
* Major [[Tim Vakoc]], US Army Chaplain mortally wounded in [[Mosul]] during the [[Iraq War]]
* Private [[Murder of Tracie McBride|Tracie McBride]], rape and murder victim<ref name=McBrideCongress>{{cite web|url=https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/volume-141/issue-43/senate-section/article/S3679-2|title=TRIBUTE TO PRIVATE TRACIE JOY McBRIDE; Congressional Record Vol. 141, No. 43 (Senate - March 8, 1995)|publisher=[[Congress of the United States]]|access-date=2024-11-02}}</ref>
* [[John Clay Walker]], American journalist, tortured and murdered in Mexico by members of the [[Guadalajara Cartel]]
* [[Jim Klobuchar]], Minnesota journalist and author
The cemetery contains one British [[Commonwealth War Graves Commission|Commonwealth war grave]], of a [[Royal Canadian Air Force]] airman of [[World War II]].<ref name=cwgc>[http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2719816/WICKLEM,%20RUSSELL%20JOHN] CWGC Casualty Record.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Fort Snelling National Cemetery}}
* [http://www.cem.va.gov/ National Cemetery Administration]
* [http://www.cem.va.gov/CEM/cems/nchp/ftsnelling.asp Fort Snelling National Cemetery]
* {{HALS |survey=MN-1 |id=mn0602 |title=Fort Snelling National Cemetery, 7601 34th Avenue South, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, MN |photos=46 |cap=4}}
* {{GNIS|type=retired|643826}}
* {{Find a Grave cemetery}}
* [http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/2073103/FORT%20SNELLING%20NATIONAL%20CEMETERY CWGC: Fort Snelling National Cemetery]

{{Authority control}}

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