Commemorating WW1 in Minnesota: Overshadowed by WW2

By Chris Gehrz

Even before I set out to look at how the First World War has been commemorated here in Minnesota, I assumed that the vast majority of Twin Citians would be hard-pressed to identify a single WWI memorial in the metro area. Even those who drive, bike, jog, and walk on or along Victory Memorial Drive in Minneapolis — how many know which victory is being memorialized?

But perhaps I’d better pay attention to the log in my own eye before I worry about specks in others’…

Since 2003 I’ve attended Salem Covenant Church in New Brighton, MN, and more than a few times driven past that suburb’s small city hall. Until three weeks ago, I hadn’t the vaguest notion that standing in front of that building is a small granite monument to the eighty-five townsfolk of New Brighton who served in the military during the war — four of whom died.