Portraits of Valor

Military Medals hang in a frame.
Robert Holmstrom's medals from World War II.
Evan Frost | MPR News

2020 marked the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. Most of the 326,000 Minnesotans who fought in the war — waged in the Pacific, Asia, the Mediterranean and Europe from the land, sky and sea — have died, taking their knowledge of a different America with them.

As of Sept. 20, 2019, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimated there were 7,347 WWII veterans living in Minnesota, many of whom are approaching 100 years old.

MPR News photographer Evan Frost sat down with some of those veterans to document their memories and their hopes for America. These are their stories.