Iowa’s shrine to war heroes exists a short 15 minute drive east on Interstate 80 from Stuart.

The Iowa Veterans Cemetery, located just north of Van Meter, serves as the final resting place for over 2,700 veterans from 39 states. The cemetery is overseen by Executive Director of the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs retired Colonel Robert King. Preserving the hallowed ground is a duty King says he takes very seriously. “It’s a beautiful place. We will continually provide the very best service we can to veterans and their families. We also strive to continually improve on the quality of the service we provide and also the condition and the manner in which we care for the grounds and the facilities. We try to make it as nice a location as it can be.”

King says this year’s Veterans Day program will feature a keynote speaker native to Van Meter, in addition to many other activities. “Posting of the colors from the Junior ROTC of the Central Campus in Des Moines. It’s an Army ROTC unit. They’ve been doing this for several years for us and they always do a wonderful job. One of the pastors from the Adel Christian Church will provide the invocation. Our guest speaker this year is Congressman David Young. He does a wonderful job of speaking about our country and the valor of our veterans. Then we’ll retire the colors, have a benediction and that will be our ceremony.”

The ceremony is free and open to the public and is set to begin at 8 a.m. Wednesday at the cemetery. Colonel King will tell us more about it today on Let’s Talk Guthrie County. It airs during the 9 a.m., noon and 5 p.m. hours on K107.9 and www.raccoonvalleyradio.com.