Fort Snelling National Cemetery — Attraction in Fort Snelling Unorganized Territory

I have been to many funerals in my 18 years. Many were for great grandparents and a one for my great Aunt. They were at all at Fort Snelling. They all were beautiful and we had time to grieve. This is not the case for the most current funeral I went to for my Great Grandma Shirley. My grandma was a loving, thoughtful, fun, and intelligent woman who brought great joy to all of the family. She loved to read and talk to people. She deserved the best and I was assuming thats what would have happened at Fort Snelling, considering all the other funerals I went to there were wonderful. When we arrived the 2 ladies who were the workers for the funeral (I did not get there name because I was more focused on my family for obvious reasons) did say anything to us other than 'get in your cars and follow us'. My family did so and when we got to the place where the ceremony takes place they gathered us around to face the urn. People were still walking over and pestering everyone to sit down or stand behind the bench. When they were resding for the service it seemed very rushed. Especially when they said 'lets take a moment to pray' and not even 5 seconds later they continued to talk. After they were done speaking they rushed my crying grandpa (who is the son of Shirley) to hand out cards to everyone. He barely got any time to look at the urn, cry, and grieve. I was in shock and disgusted. That has never happened before. As he was handing out cards they were telling us to get out of there and one of the ladies that were handing out flowers was just handing people flowers and telling people to leave. This service didn't even hit 10 minutes. No one had time to grieve, cry, look at my great grandmas urn, or even take in the moment. We didn't have time to talk to any of our family who drove over 2 hours to get there (I was even one of those family members). It was so rude and just utterly disappointing. My great grandma Shirley deserved way more than that and thise 2 ladies should be ashamed about how they treated our family and the service. I've never felt so...

I have been to quite a few funerals at Fort Snelling as many of my husband's family have dedicated their lives to serving our fine country. They have all been nice. Today, we went there to honor and remember, Shirley Dietrich, a wonderful woman who was a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and the wife of a soldier. She was 93 and she desired a small gathering of family at her resting place. We were there 30 minutes early and waited for the officiator(s). They drove to the site and quickly sat us down. Within 10 minutes they had rushed us through the ceremony, with barely a pause for prayer. Then they all but forced us out of there, telling us that we needed to leave. I am furious and disgusted that they did not allow us barely any time to grieve the loss of our loved one. We had people driving from hours away to turn around and leave less than 20 minutes later. The service given was swift and forced. No compassion was allowed to those who were grieving. We were not allowed any time to say goodbye to her. They grabbed our flowers, handed them to us so they could get us out of there quicker. Never have I ever seen any family treated so poorly at a funeral. Those two women (officiators) should be ashamed at the way they treated us. The Dietrich family deserves an apology. Shirley deserved a beautiful funeral; what she got was unacceptable. Had I known that her end of life ceremony (if you can call it that) would have been so dismal, I would have found another way...

I visited this holy and revered Cemetery just to see what my future holds here. While it is scenic and vast I did notice that the maintenance crew weren't as effective in maintaining the grounds which is sad. My hope is they, meaning the Cemetery management hires more dedicated folks that take the job seriously. With that said.

Being a military retiree and a 100% disabled veteran gives me a choice where I can be buried. Arlington National Cemetery is one option as a military retiree or at Fort Snelling. Unfortunately, Arlington National Cemetery is running out of space and may restrict us retirees from internment in the future. Whereas Fort Snelling is close to home and seems to have enough space for internment .

My Dad is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, and my Mom hasn't decided where she wants to be buried when she passes. Both of my parents are military retirees as well. My Dad passed in 2005. My Mom is still kicking and vibrant in her old age. Lol.

My wife and I will be buried together at...