For five decades Minnesota's military history has been preserved by the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum at Camp Ripley.

This museum is dedicated to veterans in all 87 counties and from all service branches.

History is important for all of us.

In fact when you talk to your families all of them will raise their hand and say "yes I have an uncle, I have a grandfather who was either in World War II, in Korea or Vietnam."

In the summer of 2026 the museum will begin a new chapter with an expanded facility and an enhanced mission.

This is part of our heritage for the United States and for the State of Minnesota.

Minnesota has an extraordinarily rich military history.

That is why this one-of-a-kind world class museum is so important.

[Music] [Music] Camp Ripley located just outside of Little Falls, Minnesota is one of the state's key military bases housing both active duty Army as well as Minnesota National Guard troops.

Today at the camp the 194th Infantry Regiment is receiving a presidential unit citation for its work evacuating American personnel out of Afghanistan in 2021.

Today we gather to recognize and honor a unit with a remarkable history.

A unit's whose lineage stretches back to the days of Battaan and whose service has been marked by distinction throughout the years.

Just yards away from where military history is being made sits the campus of the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum where the state's military history is recorded for future generations.

Minnesotans have been in the front line of our military history since the Civil War.

We have a large and proud military history here in the State of Minnesota as a result of those veterans who have served us so well.

Minnesota's impact on US military history can be witnessed by the number of times that state soldiers have been the first to serve in major conflicts.

Minnesota was the first state to volunteer for the Civil War.

Minnesotans were the first to fire on enemy forces at Pearl Harbor.

Minnesotans were also among the first to enter ground combat in Afghanistan after 9/11.

In addition, the state has reduced its share of notable high-ranking military officers.

Minnesota has enjoyed the leadership of some extraordinary leaders.

General John Vessey, his 46-year military career dating back to World War II all the way through his service as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs for President Ronald Reagan.

General Joseph Votel who led the American response into Afghanistan leading the 75th Ranger Regiment in October of 2001 and recently retired as head of Centcom - Central Command.

Also individuals like Paul Nakasone another four-star general who's just retired as head of Cyber Command.

So, Minnesotans have enjoyed this leadership at the the highest levels in our nation's military.

For almost five decades this history has been carefully preserved by museum staff and housed on site at facilities at Camp Ripley.

The museum is coming up on its 50th Anniversary.

Over those years veterans have come into our museum shared their stories, shared their artifacts, their efemera from their service.

We in turn have been try to be good stewards of those stories and those artifacts and present them in the manner the best we could.

So, this area is probably the best example of the finished stage of archiving where we've got everything in archival boxes, neatly labeled, perfectly organized and these are all accessible online.

So, you can search.

Our archive, our collection is significant I believe because it covers the entire State of Minnesota, every combat theater as well as the home front.

Our archival collection in terms of quantity it's significant.

We have materials from a number of US presidents, Civil War generals, etc.

The most significant veteran in Minnesota - General John W. Vessey Jr. his family donated a huge collection to the museum everything from photos and documents to all of his records.

The museum's collection of personal papers and individual artifacts has been cataloged by museum staff and made accessible to historians and academics as well as to the general public.

I find the most rewarding thing is to connect artifacts with veterans and their stories.

You can hold the helmet, you can hold the uniform and those items really speak to you as a curator and a museum person because they're telling a story about this veteran.

They're telling a story about their service.

They're making a connection to past history that's very important for a museum like ours.

So, not only do we have Minnesota and US related flags, we also have foreign flags.

One of our nicer collections of World War II Japanese flags.

Some of these Japanese flags were picked up as battlefield souvenirs by Marines, Navy, Air Force guys, Army guys.

Physical collections are really a gateway to the past.

The things that they wore, the things that they carried, the things that they used in combat.

So, those are the things that really are important for a museum for people to get a visual representation of the past.

The museum's collection also includes decommissioned military vehicles.

Over the decades these vehicles have become landmarks in the personal histories of Minnesota citizens who have visited the museum.

I came to this museum as a young kid.

So, I have pictures of that time period standing in front of your plane with my father and growing taller as the pictures progress.

I remember looking at tanks I would get so excited.

Camp Ripley feels like to me, it feels like I'm coming [Music] home.

The museum's history dates back to citizen efforts to commemorate the US Bicentennial in 1976.

That initiative then evolved into an ongoing mission to document the state's military history aided by veterans who lived that history firsthand.

As the museum grew it became clear that the small handful of buildings that housed its collection did not have room for growth.

For years the museum's board of directors had sought to address this problem by planning to build a larger more accessible facility.

Within the past 5 years plans for that expansion began to take shape.

Good evening everybody.

Hello, my name is Randall Betrick.

I wanted just to honor some of our veterans tonight as well as our volunteers who work so hard to make this has happen.

We had an annual board meeting earlier today.

Our need for a new museum has become quite clear over the years and that we've run out of space to display all the artifacts we have.

The impetus to make this move to a new building really is a result of the leadership provided by our board of directors.

Some of those board members have been present since the very first days of the museum and some of those other men and women who served on that board have just joined us recently but their leadership, their guidance and developing this plan and securing the funds their importance in that process can't really be overstated.

Thank you.

My name is Mark Richie.

I had the honor of serving as Minnesota's Secretary of State and over the years I had the opportunity to be involved in our special museum up here at Camp Ripley to gather stories and insights demands greater resources.

It also means making priorities and making decisions.

So how do we stretch ourselves or find more resources to do the job right?

The whole concept of this new museum building has been in the works for at least 24 years because that's how long I've been around here but the big thing that I've always had on my plate as long as I've been involved with the museum has been let's get it outside the gate.

The facility that emerged from the board's planning process built on the museum's existing assets.

The plan kept the museum site near Camp Ripley but located it outside of the base itself.

The proposed footprint included a wide exterior parade ground to house the museum's collection of historic military vehicles.

Under the plan this vehicle collection would grow to incorporate a gun from the USS Ward which fired the first shot of World War II as well as components of the USS Minneapolis-St. Paul, a Cold War era nuclear submarine.

The museum's archival collection would be consolidated within a single enclosed building with public gallery space for displays as well as multimedia history presentations.

The end goal would be to create not only a museum site but a statewide gathering space to highlight the value of service to the nation.

By 2022 the museum had secured the public and private funds necessary to begin construction.

From there plans moved ahead quickly.

First the museum was able to acquire new land adjacent to Camp Ripley through a local donor.

Situated just off State Highway 371, the site will provide the museum with additional visibility.

The process in developing this new facility is one first securing the land then securing $32 million in state support to design and build the building as well as another $10 million that's ongoing to try to outfit this facility with the stories of men and women dating back to the Civil War and then that construction process preparing those 30 acres for this new building that responsibility falls to Breitbach Construction and their leadership, their expertise in doing these kinds of projects is going to be essential for the new building to open here in 2026.

In September of 2023 the museum held a groundbreaking event attended by veterans from across the state.

My name is John Pearson.

I'm from St.

Cloud, Minnesota.

I have 33 years worth of military service and I've served on Camp Ripley for so many years, watched the old museum and I'm going to tell you something, I'm excited about what we're doing with the new museum.

I look at the renderings and so forth of what's coming up, this is going to be top shelf.

I've been to Bataan.

I have been to Normandy and I've been to Washington DC.

I don't know that we've got a better museum than what we're [Music] doing.

I actually served 38 years in the military.

Three years in the Navy and 35 years in the Army Guard.

The veterans and the community all coming together to try and get the funding to construct this was key and that that unity that all came together to make this a reality shows the support that a project like this needs to [Music] have.

Minnesota has an extraordinarily rich military history.

That is why this one-of-a-kind world class museum is so important.

The stories that are told within the walls of this museum will teach and inspire 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.

One year later construction of the site had started.

We're out at the new Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum, brand new site right off of Highway 371.

The new building is a pre-cast concrete structure about 40,000 square ft. for indoor exhibit space.

Our goal is to have construction completion around the end of 2025 to give time for exhibits to be moved in and open sometime in the spring of [Music] 2026.

Everybody involved in the project has expressed their excitement about the opportunity to work on a project of this significance.

Everybody knows how important our veterans are and the work that they've done, the sacrifices they've made and so to be a part of something that can help honor them the way they should be is great.

[Music] Among the artifacts that will be housed at the new museum will be the remaining portions of the USS Minneapolis-St. Paul a nuclear submarine that had been operational during the Cold War and afterwards.

The USS Minneapolis-St. Paul is a Los Angeles class submarine.

It was commissioned in 1985 and had many years of service.

It has multiple weapon systems, multiple sensors.

It was a key part of the Department of Defense playbook.

In fact, it ferried weapons that were used at the beginning of the Gulf War.

The USS Minneapolis-St. Paul was launched during the 1980's and served for 25 years.

As a Los Angeles class attack submarine, It was nuclear powered and designed for extended deployments.

Its strategic value rested in its ability to operate undetected and to launch its weapons in surprise attacks if needed.

The vessel was the first to carry Tomahawk cruise missiles for use during the Gulf War against Iraq.

I served in submarines on both the east and the west coast, San Diego, Pearl Harbor, Virginia, Connecticut.

So, I had a pretty broad background.

It was quite a thrill to be able to take command of that ship and as a native Minnesotan, having grown up here, spent my whole formative years in Minnesota and then to be able to have the opportunity to command that submarine was truly amazing.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul was decommissioned in 2008 at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.

As part of the recycling effort on the USS Minneapolis-St. Paul, the submarine sail, the fair water planes and the rudders were set aside.

They have a vision at that shipyard in cooperation with other historians to save those parts for further use as needed by a state or a city who chooses to use those submarine components as part of a submarine memorial.

After decommissioning occurred museum staff sought out the submarine's remaining components and arranged to transport them to Minnesota so that the restoration process could begin.

We engaged the Anderson Trucking Company of Little Falls, Minnesota to help us out and in fact they volunteered four tractor trailers and their drivers to bring these parts back home to Minnesota.

While plans for the submarine display were being finalized the components were stored temporarily at Camp Ripley.

In the fall of 2024 they were moved to Sauk Rapids to begin restoration work.

I was here the day they dropped these parts off, that was exciting.

This is more exciting.

This is a once in a-lifetime thing.

It's just history and it's Minnesota's history, it's Minnesota's.

[Music] These pieces of the USS Minneapolis-St. Paul may look small but they're big in weight.

The two pieces of the sail weigh about 35,000 lbs.

each.

So, you're talking several, several, many tons of steel sitting out here in the plains of Minnesota.

We can't wait to get them assembled in one big package.

[Music] The submarine restoration work has been tasked to C4 Welding - a commercial welding company based in Sauk Rapids.

We're super excited.

We've been talking about the project, you know, for a number of months now and everybody's really excited to get started on it.

Minnesota veterans including those who had served aboard the vessel when it was operational are guiding the restoration process itself.

We're at C4 Welding.

The folks here are redoing the submarine sail, the rudder, the fair water planes making it almost like new again so that others can enjoy [Music] it.

I think I grew up on the submarine like that's where I learned how to to be an adult and how to be professional and how to work and like the work ethic that I carry throughout my career started on the Minneapolis-St. Paul.

It's an honor to see that part of it still together and people will get to enjoy the Minneapolis-St. Paul for, you know, for years to [Music] [Applause] come.

There is this appreciation that we're drawing from, really the experience of veterans of the military and mobilizing to bring together the kind of resources and support and cooperation necessary to do big things.

Veterans have certainly done that through our history and that mobilization idea is one that we've applied to this museum.

We're mobilizing people to work together in a common cause to make this new museum a reality.

Serving in the Navy has meant a lot to my life.

I feel the country is valuable and is worth my personal sacrifice.

I spent many hours underwater in harms way.

It was worth every second that I did it.

I think, you know, from when I started with our guys coming back from Vietnam without any recognition to today bringing a submarine to the Northern Plains and setting it up so people can see what it's actually like.

I joined the Naval Academy and became a submariner never having seen a submarine.

So, for the opportunity for young people today to see this kind of thing is unprecedented in my opinion.

Minnesota veterans are central to many other exhibits that will fill the new museum.

Marine veteran and professional painter David Geister is guiding the installation of a 30 ft. long mural that commemorates historic figures and events from the first world war.

So, we created three panels, initially 8 ft. by 10 ft. wide put all together you've got 30 ft. showcasing 100 Americans who either shaped or were shaped by the Great War.

We have a military panel.

We have a home front panel and then in the middle we have sort of what I'll consider more the like the political panel where there's this war of ideas.

Once you take just a cursory look at the people that we've included in the military panel you see Harry Truman, you see Dwight Eisenhower and a number of other characters that show up and are very influential in the second world war.

The mural features Minnesota veterans as well as state historical figures such as the Mayo brothers to help tell the broader history of the time.

It will be prominently featured in the classroom at the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum much the same way that I was inspired to learn about people who suffered through and in some cases persevered and rose to the occasion in various wars, sort of history I hope that visitors to the museum will use my artwork as a way to sort of understand perhaps their place in that [Music] story.

A prominent feature of the new museum will be the display of a Stuart tank from World War II that has connections to Minnesota's military history.

So, eventually what we're going to do with this tank, it's going to go in our World War II gallery in our new facility.

The idea is to make it look like a representative sample of a tank that was used by the 194th Tank Battalion in Bataan.

Our museum is all about saving history, restoring it and then presenting it and we are able to do that through the generosity of lots of people.

Russ Mulholland would be one of those people.

Russ has a personal connection to a Stuart tank that's been on display outdoors in Brainerd for a number of years.

Soldiers from Brainerd were part of the 194th Tank Battalion at the Philippines in 1941 and 42 and endured that Bataan Death March.

In fact, Russ's great uncle was one of those soldiers.

The Battle of Bataan was a World War II era engagement between allied troops and Japanese military forces.

The three month battle ended with the surrender of US and Filipino troops to the Japanese.

Prisoners were then marched over 60 miles to access prison camps.

On the way thousands of prisoners were killed by Japanese soldiers.

Survivors referred to the forced march as the Bataan Death March.

Russ Mulholland's great uncle Henry Peck was a soldier in the Minnesota based 194th Tank Battalion and survived the march and captivity.

The 194 was on the island of Bataan.

They were surrounded, outnumbered, low on ammo, food, everything else when they finally surrendered, you know, they then were forced to do the march for days, no food, water.

If you fell out you were just executed.

You know, the will to live that they had to have, you know, the perseverance it was shocking.

A mechanic and military veteran himself, Russ has worked to restore the Bataan era tank that will be displayed at the museum to commemorate the World War II service of Minnesota soldiers.

You know, when you come down here I bring my kids down here usually once a summer and we go through, when we go out and look at the equipment it's neat to say hey I helped restore this and then explain to them what the vehicles do and I notice in my kids it makes a difference when you're talking about stuff like that it's like they're not just decorations, you know, these were used by real people and people died in and around these vehicles.

The new Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum is scheduled to open in the summer of 2026.

In preparation Minnesota veterans continue to mobilize, to capture and preserve the state's past.

I think it's important to remember history.

I think it's important to remember those things as Americans so that we honor and remember the sacrifices people make.

Our museum is in many ways as much about the future as it is about the past meaning we want to inform and inspire young people about those service members that came before them and served with distinction and served the nation well and our belief is that understanding the kind of leadership that's been demonstrated is going to inform our future leaders and hopefully young people as they leave our facility have a little better understanding of our military history, of the wars that have been fought and why and the outcomes in the legacies of those as well as Minnesotan's place in those conflicts.

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