New Military Museum Opening Honors Veterans, Marks 25 Years Since September 11
LITTLE FALLS (WJON News) -- A new Central Minnesota attraction is gearing up to open its doors for the first time in September. The Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum will have its grand opening the weekend of September 11th through the 13th.
The three-day event is featuring a wide array of activities both indoors and out, including a ribbon cutting, live music from Mason Dixon Line, veteran-led talks, and veterans recognition. Executive Director Randall Dietrich says they felt it was important to tie the grand opening into the 25th Anniversary of 9/11:
"That made a lot of sense to take advantage kind of, of that anniversary, to pause, to reflect back on those last twenty-five years and then use that as the occasion also to reflect back on all the other conflicts that we've been involved in and the veterans who have served."
He says there are 40,000 post-9/11 veterans in Minnesota, and there are 100 million Americans with no living memory of the event.
They will have some displays, galleries, and films that Dietrich says will take visitors back in time in some remarkable ways:
"We will have on display the gun from the U.S.S. Ward that announced the American entrance into the Second World War, fired by 85 Naval Reservists from St. Paul, and this theater that is adjacent to that gun display again will bring visitors back to that morning."
Dietrich says they do expect to have some World War II veterans on hand as part of the grand opening.
The Military Museum's Grand Opening is the same weekend as the Little Falls Arts and Crafts Show, and you can catch a free ride from the craft show to the museum on September 12th and 13th.
All the outdoor events at the museum are free to attend, but a ticket is required for any of the indoor activities. Tickets for the indoor Museum Gallery are $5 for adults, $2 for children 6 - 17, and kids 5 and under are free. You can see a few photos from the museum below.
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