Groundbreaking Set For SE Minn. Veterans Cemetery
PRESTON, Minn. (AP) -- State and federal officials are breaking ground on a new state veterans cemetery in the southeastern Minnesota town of Preston.
The ceremonial groundbreaking is Friday morning at the 169-acre site off Highway 52 donated by Preston and Fillmore County. The Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs got a $10 million construction grant in October from the Federal Cemetery Administration.
The first phase of the project includes the development of 28 acres and includes a main entrance, assembly area, administration building, maintenance facility, roads, shelter, pre-placed crypts, cremation burial areas, landscaping and a memorial walk. The cemetery is scheduled to open in 2015.
Minnesota's veterans affairs commissioner, Larry Shellito, will be at the groundbreaking along with U.S. Rep. Tim Walz and other state and federal officials.
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