Kyle Anderson says the whole thing felt like 10 seconds — the period from when a bomb exploded near his convoy in Fallujah, Iraq, firing shrapnel that ripped through the Marine lance corporal’s helmet, to when he emerged from a coma three months later.

Two weeks ago, he took a short ride in his Polaris utility vehicle from his doorstep in Inver Grove Heights to a yellow ribbon cutting at Dakota County’s new Veterans Memorial Greenway.

It was only a minute’s drive, but one that carries 20 years of intense physical therapy, daily speech therapy, several surgeries and a never-ending perseverance behind it.

Dakota County leaders recently celebrated construction of the first phase of the new Veterans Memorial Greenway, a three-part project that eventually will connect Lebanon Hills Regional Park and the Mississippi River Greenway with five miles of trails interspersed with memorials for military veterans and their families.

The first phase is the central section of the greenway, running for 2 miles between Alameda Path and Rich Valley Park in Inver Grove Heights. A recent ribbon-cutting celebration was held at a new tunnel beneath 105th Street across from Rich Valley Park. The tunnel was outfitted to resemble a battlefield trench, designed with heavy input from an advisory committee made up of local veterans and their families.

Anderson’s one-minute drive to the memorial was enough to make Dakota County Commissioner Joe Atkins, a person who most days isn’t one to have glassy eyes, need a moment to wipe away tears from his cheeks.

Atkins has known Anderson and his family since they moved next door to the former Inver Grove Heights mayor decades ago. Anderson even baby-sat Atkins’ children once upon a time. The longtime politician watched the boy grow into a state champion wrestler for Simley High School, and then a decorated Marine. Days before his own injury, Anderson had pulled a badly injured soldier to safety during a firefight.

“His family moved in next to us when he was just a little boy. I can remember him toddling around the yard. He was moving non-stop. You could not slow that kid down,” Atkins said. “He was my inspiration for the Veterans Memorial Greenway. I’m not a real sensitive guy, but it made me cry, especially to have Kyle there to cut the ribbon.”

After suffering his traumatic brain injury in Iraq in 2004, Anderson had to relearn things that were once the easiest of tasks for the then athletic 19-year-old. Getting out of bed? He had to reteach his body how to even take a step. Joking around with a friend? He had to reteach his brain how to form the words. Any words.

These days, Anderson, 39, wears a hearing aid, speaks with a speech impediment and is still limited on the right side of his body. But he is able to walk on his own and hold conversations. He has traveled to hospitals and care centers across the country for intense physical, mental and speech therapy over the years. His friends say his naturally gregarious nature has never left.

“Never quit,” Anderson said when asked about his recovery, repeating a familiar mantra, and pointing to his head. “Keep a positive mind. It is not easy to start over. If I could do it, you could do it.”

Kyle Anderson, center, helps cut the ribbon to celebrate the first phase of Dakota County’s new Veterans Memorial Greenway during a ceremony on Oct. 15, 2024, near Rich Valley Park in Inver Grove Heights. Dakota County received $10 million in state funds and nearly $6 million in federal funds for the Veterans Memorial Greenway project. (Courtesy of Dakota County)

Asked about how it felt that the new memorial was about 500 yards from his home, and that he was able to cut the memorial’s ribbon along with other Dakota County veterans as local, state and federal officials looked on, Anderson replied saying he “loved it,” before breaking into a joke.

“You know the movie ‘Dumb and Dumber’?” Anderson asked, then quoting the classic Jim Carrey film. “I like it. I like it a lot,” he said with a hearty laugh.

Rich Valley becomes Veterans Memorial

The Rich Valley Greenway had a long history, going back several decades, but as Atkins said, it was sitting on a shelf, collecting dust, for many years.

“It’s been talked about since I was mayor of Inver Grove Heights, and that was 1992 to 2002, so it’s been talked about since I had still had dark hair,” Atkins joked.

At a Dakota County Board meeting at least four years ago, Atkins suggested changing the name and involving the veteran community, almost as a side note during an unrelated matter. His colleagues loved the idea, and the plan started to gain traction. Dakota County is home to 22,000 veterans — among the largest veteran populations in Minnesota.

In 2020, the county board formally approved renaming the Rich Valley Greenway as the Veterans Memorial Greenway.

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With a new direction, Dakota County Director of Veterans Services Lisa Thomas was asked to create a veterans advisory committee to help with design and content choices. Thomas, who served in the U.S. Army National Guard and also the U.S. Air Force Reserve, said the group wanted the greater community to feel like they were part of this memorial. The aim was for the memorial to be intertwined within nature, where people could find peace, and also share the space with each other.

Many times, the placement of a memorial for veterans is in a somber area, allowing visitors to reflect and remember their sacrifices quietly. But that doesn’t allow people to remember their family members or friends in a very social way.

A common refrain from those involved in the planning stages was that military families would have a more social place to recall those stories. Meanwhile, families without any military connection could stop on a bike ride from Lebanon Hills and learn about a local resident who served.

“We talked about this for years. We didn’t want to put up a statue, or put up a little plaque. This will be an interactive memorial,” Thomas said. “To see it as a veteran, I couldn’t be more proud. I don’t often get emotional, but this made me get emotional. They listened, and did it right.”

Phase two begins

Each phase of the five-mile Veterans Memorial Greenway will include memorial plazas that highlight military service and sacrifice and include eight main sites along with other smaller “nodes” throughout the trail. (Courtesy of Dakota County)

The first phase is almost complete, and now the county will begin to solicit bids for the second phase, which will begin east of Lakeside Park in Eagan, near Dodd Road, to Alameda Path in Inver Grove Heights. The timeline for the second phase is expected to stretch into 2026, said Tony Wotzka, Dakota County greenways manager and project manager. The third phase will start in Rich Valley Park and run east to the Mississippi River Greenway.

Work on the final phase is expected to extend through 2027.

The greenway provides an imperative corridor for pedestrian safety, Atkins said. Dakota County officials estimate that more than 200,000 people use the Mississippi River Greenway annually. This new path system is expected to reach that level of use, as well.

The greenway is funded with $10 million in state bonding, nearly $6 million in federal funds and $8.4 million in non-levy county dollars. Other donation possibilities may emerge in regard to the memorials.

Eight different memorials or “nodes” honoring specific branches, or experiences of military service, will span the length of the greenway.

In this first phase of the greenway, memorials along the trail include: honoring the places served by Dakota County veterans, a Purple Heart-shaped plaza and a restored prairie honoring Minnesota’s soldiers who are missing in action and prisoners of war.

One of the memorials on the third phase will honor Gold Star families, those who have suffered the loss of an immediate family member who was serving during conflict.

One idea is to interview former servicemen and women, record their stories and create interactive kiosks, where a person could push a button and hear different experiences.

“I think the more input from the community and the public, the more alive and relevant the memorial is going to be,” said Pam Shultz. Her son Christopher Goeke died in 2010 when an insurgent bombed a police station in Kandahar City, Afghanistan, with enemy combatants flooding the area with rocket-propelled grenades and machine gun fire.

“The feeling that he is being remembered is really important. Obviously as his family, we are never going to forget about him, but to know that other people are remembering him and his sacrifice is important,” Shultz said.

Chris Goeke, a 2004 graduate of Apple Valley High School and 2008 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, was 23. He is buried at Fort Snelling. The cemetery is a place to remember him — his family recall Goeke as a lifelong learner who graduated sixth in his class at West Point and always wanted to explore different and new subjects — but the memorials provide a place more intermeshed with the community, Shultz said.

It will be a place where the happier moments can be shared, and the laughs can be loud.

Shultz is a board member of the Warrior 196 Leadership Foundation, a group founded to support future students of the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan public school district through the memory of five former students who were killed in active military duty: Goeke, Nathanael Doring, Benjamin Kopp, Daniel Olsen and Andrew Wilfahrt.

“There’s a playground already existing by the Gold Star family site, and that will be a place where families and kids can come and play. Then they are part of the memorial in a way,” Shultz said. “One of Chris’ old friends said, ‘Oh my gosh, (the greenway is) less than a mile from my house. I’m going to go over and walk with my kids, and we can talk about veterans and we can talk about Chris. I think I’m going to incorporate that into a place that we go as a family.’”

Memorials take shape

Crews finish up concrete work on a future memorial plaza near Rich Valley Park in Inver Grove Heights. Work is nearly complete on the first phase of the new Veterans Memorial Greenway, being built in three phases through Inver Grove Heights and Eagan. (Courtesy of Dakota County)

Back near the completed tunnel, Anderson got in his Polaris and drove a reporter around the first phase of the trail. He pointed out the two new paths east of Akron Avenue and north of Cliff Road. That area will become the Missing in Action memorial, a restored prairie with a loop circling the main trail, outfitted with benches and a kiosk with recorded audio from local veterans.

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Anderson drove by the future location of the main memorial at Rich Valley Park; he will be able to spot parts of the Purple Heart Plaza memorial from his garage once it is fully completed. That location will serve as the main memorial on the greenway, proposed as a gathering place for veterans and their families, with seating around the main memorial as well as a covered shelter with picnic tables.

He talked about how it will be great to see people all over using the new trails and paths.

Traveling on, Anderson reached a future memorial plaza, where a new star had just been laid in a large concrete pad that day. He pointed, gave a big thumbs up, and smiled again.

“Niiiiiiice!” Anderson said, stretching the word for emphasis.