Hello everyone; I am inserting a current news item regarding the progression of items that should soon allow the start of construction of the Minnesota Militaary Museum. 

In allocating $13 million for a new Military Museum, state legislators ensured construction of a facility befitting the service and sacrifice of Minnesota Veterans.  Still, the quality and character of the education classrooms, exhibit galleries and public programming ultimately rests with everyday Minnesotans who step up and financially support this remarkable 32-acre site and 40,000 square foot Museum & Library dedicated to veterans.

Respectfully

John Thomas, President

WreathsForTheFallen.org

 

New Site & Facility

Projected Completion Date: Fall 2024

In allocating $13 million for a new Military Museum, state legislators ensured construction of a facility befitting the service and sacrifice of Minnesota Veterans.

Another $8 million is needed to fully outfit this facility with the tools and technology to save and share these stories with a statewide audience for generations to come.  To this end, the KAHR Foundation has already committed $3 million.  Now, leading companies, foundations and families are asked to match this commitment. 

Ultimately, the quality and character of the education classrooms, exhibit galleries and public programming rests with everyday Minnesotans who see the value of investing in a future that is as bright as our past.   Online Donation

Throughout the design and construction phase, the Museum will host online gatherings, via Zoom, to discuss interpretation, inclusion and overall themes.  Email Sign-up to receive invites

If you’d like to assist in other ways including volunteer opportunities, please email us.  We are seeking to significantly bolster our collection of artifacts related to the Global War on Terrorism.  A list of other items we are seeking (and those we are not) is available here.

If you have questions or comments, please contact Randal Dietrich, Executive Director

 

Concept: new museum rendering on 32-acres at Camp Ripley

September 17, 2023

Telling the stories of Minnesotans, a world-class military museum begins by Camp Ripley

Groundbreaking ceremony features speakers, bits of history. Coverage includes photos and video of the groundbreaking ceremony for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum on Sept. 17, 2023

 

Andy Garding uses a 1944 Cletrac construction battalion bulldozer from World War II to break ground Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, during the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley. Construction of the 40,000-square-foot facility is expected to be completed in late 2025 with a grand opening in 2026.

CAMP RIPLEY — History was on display as vintage equipment broke ground for a world-class facility that will house the rich stories of Minnesotans who served their country in the armed forces.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the new Minnesota Military & Veterans Museum, which will take two years to build, brought people together near Camp Ripley on the site where the museum will stand.

Groundbreaking ceremony for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum

The keynote speaker, Gen. (Ret.) Joseph Votel, is a Minnesota native and former Army four-star commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command and U.S. Central Command. Votel led the American response when the 75th Ranger Regiment, under his command, dropped into Afghanistan Oct. 19, 2001. Votel went on to lead the Central Command and the coalition liberating Iraq and Syria.

Votel thanked Randal Dietrich, executive director of the Minnesota Military & Veterans Museum, for inviting him to participate and giving him the opportunity to participate in what he described as a momentous Minnesota day. Votel thanks Dietrich for his hard work and passion that helped lead everyone to this important milestone.

 

Keynote speaker General Joseph Votel addresses the crowd Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

Votel, who grew up in St. Paul, recalled jockeying in the backseat with his siblings when his family made the trip north for vacations as his dad told them they’d see the tank parked by Camp Ripley’s entrance. His first official visit to Camp Ripley came in the summer of 1970 when one of his older brothers graduated as a second lieutenant in the infantry in the National Guard. The experience of being around soldiers and seeing military life and memorials contributed in no small measure to his own decision to pursue a military career, he said.

 

 

Votel said often people think of the way wars start and the way they end, including the War on Terror, but what people might not immediately think of are the thousands of stories of heroism and bravery in between.

“It is in these stories we see the values of empathy, integrity, selflessness, and sacrifice for the common good that we all embrace here as Minnesotans and Midwesterners,” Votel said. “It is in these stories that we see the better angels of ourselves rising to the challenge that the moment presents. It is in these stories that we understand, that we learn and that we honor. That is why this one-of-a-kind, world-class museum is so important. I know of no other state who has committed both public and private funds to build an institution of a kind envisioned here.”

When he describes it as world-class, Votel said he doesn’t just mean a gleaming building with well-appointed display cases.

 

Assistant Adjutant General Minnesota National Guard Lowell Kruse addresses the crowd Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

“I mean world-class stories of service, sacrifice and love of country — all told well,” Votel said. “And it is fitting. Minnesota has an extraordinarily rich military history.”

 

Votel spoke of the 1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment, the first volunteers to answer the call of President Abraham Lincoln for the Union. Minnesota was home to the last surviving Civil War veteran of either side, Albert Woolson, who died in Duluth in 1956. Minnesota naval reservists aboard the U.S.S. Ward fired the first American shots of World War ll on Dec. 7, 1941. About a month later, a Red Bull division member was the first American soldier to step foot in Europe. One of the soldiers raising the flag on Iwo Jima was a Minnesotan. Five Medal of Honor recipients of the Vietnam War with ties to Minnesota.

He also noted the service of former area resident Gen. John Vessey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is buried in the nearby veterans cemetery. A Pipestone resident was listed as the last American combat soldier to leave Saigon, Vietnam, in 1973. He was one of the first killed in the global war on terrorism when he was killed at a meeting about veteran issues in the Pentagon on Sept. 11. Tom Burnett, Bloomington, was one of the first to fight back on a hijacked plane on that day.

“All around us we are connected to the past,” Votel said. He noted all the stories to come from the post Sept. 11 veterans alone.

1/33: The First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, Inc. makes their way to the stage area where the groundbreaking will take place Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

2/33: The First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, Inc. makes their way to the stage area where the groundbreaking will take place Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

3/33: Presentation of the colors Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

4/33: Assistant Adjutant General Minnesota National Guard Lowell Kruse addresses the crowd Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

5/33: Little Falls Mayor Greg Zylka addresses the crowd Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

6/33: Representative Ron Kresha addresses the crowd Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

7/33: Keynote speaker General Joseph Votel addresses the crowd Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

8/33: The groundbreaking crew Don Halverson, left, Bob Anderson, Captain Takeisha Hunt, Evan Krawczyk and Joe Nayquonabe Sr. hold their shovels Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

9/33: People gather Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

10/33: People gather Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

11/33: People gather Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

12/33: People gather Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

13/33: Emcee Kevin Doran addresses the crowd Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

14/33: Rendering of the future home of the Military and Veterans Museum shown Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, during the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

15/33: The site of the future museum as seen Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, during the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

16/33: People gather Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

17/33: People gather Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

18/33: People gather Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

19/33: People gather Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

20/33: The First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, Inc. Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

21/33: Scale model submarine Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, at the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

22/33: Presentation of the colors Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

23/33: Presentation of the colors Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

24/33: Keynote speaker General Joseph Votel addresses the crowd Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

25/33: People gather Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

26/33: Andy Garding uses a 1944 Cletrac construction battalion bulldozer from World War II to break ground Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, during the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley. Construction of the 40,000-square-foot facility is expected to be completed in late 2025 with a grand opening in 2026.

27/33: Andy Garding uses a 1944 Cletrac construction battalion bulldozer from World War II to break ground Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, during the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley. Construction of the 40,000-square-foot facility is expected to be completed in late 2025 with a grand opening in 2026.

28/33: Master Sgt. Jessica Lewellen after singing God Bless America on Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

29/33: Andy Garding uses a 1944 Cletrac construction battalion bulldozer from World War II to break ground Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, during the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley. Construction of the 40,000-square-foot facility is expected to be completed in late 2025 with a grand opening in 2026.

30/33: The First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, Inc. Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

31/33: The tank visible from the groundbreaking site Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, for the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

32/33: Rendering of the future home of the Military and Veterans Museum shown Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, during the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley.

33/33: Andy Garding uses a 1944 Cletrac construction battalion bulldozer from World War II to break ground Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, during the Dedication and Ceremonial Groundbreaking for the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum just outside Camp Ripley. Construction of the 40,000-square-foot facility is expected to be completed in late 2025 with a grand opening in 2026.

“That is why this groundbreaking is so important,” he said. “The stories that are told within the walls of this museum that will stand on this spot will teach the time-tested values of love of country and service to fellow man. Values that we know are weaved into the fabric of our land, of our lakes and of our people right here in Minnesota.”

 

The Minnesota Military & Veterans Museum hosted the ceremonial groundbreaking Sunday afternoon for the new museum to be constructed during the next two years outside the gates of Camp Ripley

“We’re making history here today,” said Kevn Doran, Brainerd native and broadcast journalist with KSTP-5 in the Twin Cities. Doran emceed the event.

Brig. Gen. Lowell Kruse, post commander at Camp Ripley from 2017 to 2023, is now assistant adjutant general for the Minnesota National Guard. Camp Ripley was founded in 1929. Kruse said its beginnings were sketched out on a napkin but there wasn’t a discussion of a museum in that design.

But along the way, Kruse said, the Legislature decided the military service history of Minnesotans needed to be preserved. The military museum was set up inside Camp Ripley and has welcomed visitors for many years. Kruse spoke of the excitement in having the opportunity to bring that museum to the new prominent location just off Highway 371 in order to highlight the Minnesota veterans’ service and sacrifices. The museum, with its size and scale, he said, will benefit those veterans by documenting that service and the history of Fort Ripley and Camp Ripley.

“Some day in the future in this field, you’ll see the conning tower of a nuclear submarine as it crests out of the surface of the ground. And I can’t wait to come here in the winter and see it covered in snow as it crests because it will be just like I’m at the North Pole watching it come out of the ice.”

The state of Minnesota provided $32 million for the design and construction of the 40,000-square-foot facility. The museum's board of directors continues to raise private funds to outfit the facility with the galleries, classrooms and collections spaces befitting the service of the state’s veterans.

Doran said the facility will be dedicated to all who have served since statehood.

 

As part of the development process the board and planners traveled to some of the best museums in the country, spoke with veterans in Minnesota and beyond, and ultimately enlisted the renowned HGA Architects to help lead the design.

Little Falls Mayor Greg Zylka said both Rep. Ron Kresha, R-Little Falls, and former state Sen. Paul Gazelka, R-East Gull Lake, were key for the museum project being successful.

“On behalf of myself and the great city of Little Falls, I would like to thank Camp Ripley for their economic impact to our city,” Zylka said. “... It is unbelievable the impact they have. We are looking, expecting and knowing we will get an economic impact that will really hit home in our great community and the surrounding areas.”

Like Kruse, Zylka spoke of the combination of Camp Ripley and the separate Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery, which is next to the camp, and now the new Minnesota Military & Veterans Museum as a trifecta.

 

 

 

Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Dispatch

 

“Fantastic visibility. And I don’t think it could be in a better place,” Zylka said. “Central Minnesota earned this and they deserve it.”

 

Kresha said at the Legislature people want to do projects they will feel good about when their head hits the pillow at night.

“This is one of those projects,” he said. “... This is a national asset. I really believe this will be talked about nationally.”

Kresha encouraged people to pause and take a look at the land on Sunday afternoon as it is about to become an amazing asset for the area and a tribute to the families.

 

Sunday’s ceremony included state and local leaders, a Civil War-era cannon salute, participation from Civil War reenactors and a working World War ll bulldozer. Participants took guided walking tours of the site.

Construction is set to begin in earnest in the spring of 2024, with completion expected in late 2025 and a grand opening in 2026. Located on more than 30 acres just off Highway 371 and adjacent to the State Veterans Cemetery, the new site will ensure easy access by the public.

“When complete, this project will honor all branches of service, both past and present,” said Randal Dietrich, executive director of the Minnesota Military & Veterans Museum. “It will also truly represent a community effort, encompassing funds and support from federal, state, community and private funding sources.”