Stories Beneath the Stones

Nov 8, 2017

Six national cemeteries lie within South Dakota's borders: Black Hills National Cemetery, Fort Meade National Cemetery, Hot Springs National Cemetery, Akicita Owicahe Veterans Cemetery (Rosebud), Akicita Owicahe Lakota Freedom Veterans Cemetery (Pine Ridge) and the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate National Cemetery near Sisseton. Our November/December issue features a story about them and a new initiative through Black Hills State University in Spearfish that seeks to uncover the stories behind the men and women who are buried within these hallowed grounds. Our photographers traveled the state to gather images from each cemetery. Here are a few more that didn't fit into the magazine.

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Fort Meade National Cemetery, no longer open to burials, lies near Bear Butte just east of Sturgis. Photo by John Mitchell.
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Students at Black Hills State University have researched two Medal of Honor winners who are buried at Fort Meade: Albert Knaak and Abram Brant. Photo by John Mitchell.
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Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis turns 70 years old in 2018. Photo by John Mitchell.
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Black Hills National Cemetery is the state's largest national cemetery, with more than 650 burials annually. Photo by Ryan Clayton.
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The Pine Ridge Reservation's Akicita Owicahe Lakota Freedom Veterans Cemetery occupies 18 acres east of Kyle. It opened in 2014.
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Tribal governments gained access to U.S. Veterans Administration cemetery grants earlier in the decade. The availability of funds led to the creation of tribal national cemeteries on three of South Dakota's reservations.