GRANITE FALLS, Minn. — Hang a left at the alfalfa field outside Granite Falls and you'll find the biggest World War II museum to ever be built in the middle of nowhere.
In fact, it's the biggest World War II museum in the upper Midwest.
"It's kind of like, if you build it, they'll come," said owner Ron Fagen.
It's the Fagen family's "Airfield" of Dreams.
They have four hangars filled with 17 planes, all of them operational, along with exhibits for the Pacific theatre and European theatre. Among the featured artifacts is a German box car that transported American POWs to prison camps and Jews to death camps. The Fagens have every aspect of the war covered.
Ron loves to show off his newest exhibit including a rare, fully restored Japanese Zero warplane featured in the movie Pearl Harbor — one of four in the world that can still fly.
But Ron's favorite display features his father, Private Ray Fagen, who fought on Utah Beach in Normandy and was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge.
"I'm very proud of my dad, yep," Ron said. "And he went through a lot during his time at war."
After Ray died in 2010, Ron and his wife Diane began building their museum, Fagen Fighters WWII Museum, in his father's honor.
Now, 10 years after it opened, the whole Fagen family works there.
"It's been fun to be working with them on this," said son Evan Fagen.
Evan didn't get to hear much about the war from his grandpa. Like many veterans of his generation, Ray kept it mostly to himself. But through other veterans who've toured this museum, the Fagens have learned so much.
"We're just happy to be able to do it while we still have these veterans here today," Evan said.
And on Saturday, the Fagens are hosting an airshow and flying in World War II veterans — now 100 years old — who flew those planes in war. They're doing a Q & A so others can hear those stories
"They're all very sharp and they'll talk about the details of their service so it'll be very interesting," Evan said.
"This weekend's going to be special. Because we don't' know how many of them will be left three years from now when we have our next air show," Ron said.
A fitting father's day weekend at the museum built in memory of Ron's father.
"Diane and I are very proud of this," Ron said.
The gates open Saturday at 10:30 a.m. for the Air Show.
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities in our YouTube playlist: