Dignitaries to dedicate a cemetery for all veterans

May 27--PRESTON -- Military and legislative leaders and hundreds of visitors are expected at the dedication of the Minnesota Veterans Cemetery -- Preston on Sunday, but the cemetery's administrator believes the most important events are daily committals that might involve one or two people.

Robert Gross said it is the veterans -- and their family members -- who sacrificed and served their country who are being honored by the new cemetery in rolling hills, woods and prairie near the Root River on the east side of Preston.

"This is going to be a momentous undertaking," he said Sunday's dedication. "But the fact of the matter is the service we do every single day is what we are all about."

Actual funerals for those to be buried there are usually held in their home towns. At the cemetery, there is a smaller committal ceremony, sometimes attended by only a few family members, as well as an honor guard, he said.

While there are certain things that national protocol says must be done at committals, he said the cemetery also lets people individualize the services. For example, one veteran loved harmonicas so Taps was played on a harmonica. Another had the urn brought in by a John Deere tractor.

"For our purpose, we are going to find a way to say yes as long as it doesn't deviate from good taste," Gross said.

Veterans are buried not by rank but when they are committed, he said, so a general could be buried next to a private.

The first committal was last fall and since then, there have been more than 50, Gross said. "It's a very slow buildup," he said. "It's more of a crawl to begin with."

The ceremony involves two active duty servicemen or women who present the flag, but area Legions and VFWs have volunteered to have some of their members make up the rifle squad once or twice a month, he said.

The cemetery is getting state and national attention because instead of being on a flat, groomed piece of land, it's on about 150 acres of woods, prairie and lowlands. Bald eagles are regularly seen flying over and there are deer and turkeys in the area.

While it's fully operational, it will take time for all the prairie grasses and trees to grow, Gross said. They are just letting nature add those final touches.

The cemetery is also getting visits from tour groups, even a group of Red Hat Society women, he said. Or people just drive in to see the area. While not everyone is a veteran, nearly everyone has a veteran in the family, he said.

"I think it's the fascination with it," he said.

There are columbariums for urns holding ashes of the deceased, standard graves and places where ashes can be placed below ground. Graves are much closer than in private cemeteries to be more efficient.

"They are literally side by side by side," Gross said.

The cemetery has not yet received stone grave markers from the place that makes them for all cemeteries nationally, he said.

Gross sees his work as a final tribute to veterans and their families.

"For us, they served, they earned the right," he said.

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