Fargo National Cemetery set to expand from 5 acres to 35 acres

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — With the sale of land finalized between the Department of Veterans Affairs and local landowners, the 5-acre Fargo National Cemetery will grow to 35 acres.

U.S. Senator John Hoeven said, “And I also want to express my intent to continue to work to enhance this cemetery as much as we’ve done over the past 20 years with our state veterans cemetery, to make it truly worthy of our heroes.” 

The Cemetery is the final resting place for veterans and their spouses from all over the region. Veterans advocate it’s important because of the amount of veterans locally and that room in the cemetery was running out.

Tom Krabbenhoft, spokesperson for the Fargo Memorial Honor Guard, said, “It’s really huge in the veterans’ community as we are filling up this cemetery a lot quicker than we thought it would fill up. And it’s the only national cemetery we have in North Dakota so it’s our Arlington Cemetery.”  

Local Veterans groups are excited about the sale and are thankful to everyone who helped make it happen. 

Krabbenhoft also said, “Especially Senator Hoeven for running this first down for us because this wouldn’t have happened without his efforts in D.C.. So, we have a lot of people to thank for this and that’s just the tip of the iceberg for those to thank. We are really grateful to this community.” 

Fargo National Cemetery opened in September of 2019. Currently there are 891 veterans and spouses buried in the cemetery.