Submitted Photo Gene Watne, left, and Duane Brekke hold a panel listing 31 military veterans buried in the North Prairie Lutheran Cemetery, near Velva. The panel of names was placed in a kiosk recently constructed at the cemetery.

VELVA – In time for Veterans Day, Duane Brekke of Minot and Gene Watne of Velva have completed a project at the North Prairie Lutheran Cemetery recognizing military veterans from various wartimes and peacetime who are laid to rest there.

Watne built the kiosk now in place in the cemetery. The names of veterans buried there were installed in the kiosk on Oct. 30. Watne and Brekke were confirmed at the church in the 1950s.

North Prairie Lutheran Church, north of Velva, was organized in 1902 and dissolved in 2014, according to Brekke. He said the large cemetery is well maintained and 31 veterans are buried there.

The veterans buried there include four from World War I, nine from World War II, four from Korean War, five from Vietnam War, eight from peacetime and one from post-2000, according to Brekke.

A former U.S. Marine Corps member, Brekke said the idea for the project started as the result of a story he read about how the national Wreaths Across America program started. Brekke’s idea was recognize the veterans buried at the Velva area cemetery and have their names listed in one place so anyone visiting the cemetery could see them.

The veterans’ names will be encased in glass in the ceiling of the kiosk, Brekke said. He said there will also be a map of all the cemetery plots in the ceiling of the kiosk. Both the veterans’ names and the map are protected from the elements.

“It’s ready in time for Veterans Day,” Brekke said.