Veteran’s Corner

Jason Hicks | Commander United Patriotic bodies Fargo Memorial Honor Guard

Last week Senator John Hoeven hosted an event with Under Secretary of the VA Matthew Quin, in attendance was a large group of Veterans and assorted politicians. We discussed the building project for the Fargo National Cemetery. Quinn indicated that he would like a building Mandan-like (Referring to the state Veterans cemetery of ND) in regards to the size of the building. As many know and some do not the VA has agreed to allow a facility to be built on their property.
We also discussed the process to name a building. We had indicated our desire to name the building after Loren D Hagen KIA Aug 1971 in Vietnam and Posthumously awarded the medal of honor. Lt. Hagen was a graduate of NDSU. And we (The Fargo Memorial Honor Guard) thought it would be proper to keep a local feel to our building at the national cemetery by naming it after a local hero (The West Fargo American Legion is named after Loren D Hagen) After discussion we learned there was a legislative process to this and many hoops to jump through. Senator Hoeven agreed to carry that torch forward.
The last item of discussion was a bit of a surprise for us. Senator Hoeven stated there needs to be a 501c3 identified to collect donations and work with the VA on a final design. The Fargo Memorial Honor Guard has been doing that for the last 3 years, We received our status as a 501c3 in 2019. To say this was a surprise is an understatement. What the Senator said he needs is the have the mayors of Fargo, West Fargo and Moorhead, plus Cass and Clay County Commissioner to state their support for the Fargo Memorial Honor Guard to be this 501c3. So I ask you to write your mayor and/or county commissioners and tell them you would like them to support the Fargo Memorial Honor Guard to be THE 501c3 for this project. We are the only Veterans group, working on a building for Veterans and their Families and the National Veterans cemetery. We are so far into the game already and have raised just shy of 2 million dollars, please help us carry this the rest of the way.