The Jefferson VFW Post #9599 invites everyone to a special event on Saturday morning.

Jefferson VFW Post Commander Jim Martin says they are hosting a watch party for the commissioning of the newest USS Iowa submarine in Groton, Connecticut with the doors opening at 7am and the ceremony taking place live at 9am. He points out that the Iowa Commission Committee is also sponsoring free coffee and doughnuts for everyone that morning, along with another few things for people to enjoy.

“And what’s really cool about this is the party that contacted us, the group, they’re going to send out like a care package and it’s going to have trinkets or something to do with the submarine, something that people can actually take home with them. And I think that’s kind of cool.”    

Jefferson VFW member and a former submarine sailor Randy Winkelman is going to be one of the individuals to be in person at the ceremony where he believes that is an estimated 2,000 people in attendance, including the keynote speaker, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds. He states that this vessel has been ten years in the making as he reveals some of the background on the process.

“There at the shipyard, while it’s being built there’s thousands of people involved, from the shop workers, to the engineers, navy personnel, (and) government personnel making sure that everything is trying to stay on track. There’s always a deadline and if I’m not mistaken they were well ahead of schedule.”    

Winkelman adds that this is the fifth vessel to be named after the state, with what he thinks is the most well known vessel being the Battleship Iowa. Saturday’s watch party at the Jefferson VFW Hall is free and open to the public.