Little Falls Veterans Cemetery Receives Federal Grant

LITTLE FALLS (WJON News) -- The Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery in Little Falls is expanding.

Deputy Director of Memorial Affairs David Swantek says it has been awarded a grant of nearly $1.4 million from the Federal Veterans Cemetery Grants Program. He says the cemetery has ongoing developmental projects that are done in 10-year phases.

The grant will cover 100 percent of the nearly 1,100 new above-ground columbarium vaults.

This project will construct just over 1,000 additional niches within these above-ground structures that will account for our next 10 years' worth of burial needs for the families that choose that above-ground option for the placement of cremated remains.

Swantek says over 10,000 people are buried at the cemetery.

And we're up to doing over 500 burials annually, so it's a very busy facility.  We have about 10 staff members up there that not only conduct burial operations day-to-day 365 days a year but there's also the administrative function.

Swantek says any veteran other than those who were dishonorably discharged, their spouses, and dependent children are eligible to be buried at the cemetery, as well as members of the Reserve/National Guard.

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Minnesota has four state cemeteries with the Little Falls location being the biggest and busiest. It opened in 1994, Preston opened in 2015, Duluth in 2018, and Redwood Falls in 2023.

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