By Pat Pheifer

Minneapolis Star Tribune

PRESTON — Cumulus clouds competed with sunshine Sunday afternoon, sending rain showers now and then onto the crowd of about 1,000 people who sat and stood in the green pastures to help dedicate the Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery on the outskirts of this community of about 1,300 people.

The Preston cemetery, only the second official state veterans cemetery — the other is in Little Falls, Minn. — sits on 169 acres donated to the state by Fillmore County. Ultimately, it will be able to hold 35,000 souls. This first phase has room for about 3,500.

The first two burials, both former mayors of Preston, were on Veterans Day 2015. There have been about 40 more since then, and demand is expected to be high. Four charter buses of veterans and their families plan to tour the cemetery this coming week, said Robert Gross, superintendent of the Preston cemetery.

Stuart Quanrud’s father, Clarence, a Navy veteran of the Korean War, was the first burial there.

“It’s very respectful to come out and pay your respects,” said Quanrud, of Preston.

‘Shared heritage’

Sunday was a day for ceremony and fuss, speeches and congratulations and, above all, giving thanks. Keynote speaker U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., said that four years ago, a congressional field hearing was held in Preston. Afterward, Rep. Jon Runyan, R-N.J., told him, “I don’t believe there’s any community more ready than what we just saw.”

Said Walz, “That is a testament to each and every one of you. Especially those of you who brought young children. This is about heritage, our shared heritage.”

Memorial Day, he said, is often seen as the kickoff to summer, a weekend to head to the lake, go boating, cook out and spend time with family.

“We’re here today to dedicate this hallowed ground,” he told the crowd of veterans, young and old, some of whom came with their spouses, their children and their grandchildren. “It’s evident that this community is ready to accept the responsibility of eternal vigilance over this land. Many of us will spend our eternities here with our brothers in arms. But the next generation will come and the next. And keeping this place and its memory alive is our responsibility.”

Cemetery superintendent Gross led the crowd in singing “Happy Birthday” to 101-year-old Ernie Corson, a World War II veteran.