Ten Year Retrospective: Meet the Family

As we mark the ten year anniversaries of the milestones involved in freeing Battleship IOWA from the Suisun Bay “ghost fleet” and opening her to the public, we thought we’d take a look at a behind the scenes aspect that is rarely discussed: the sacrifices made by the families of our crew, in particular our leadership team.

In our first ten year anniversary video CEO Jonathan Williams and COO Mike Getscher spoke about having to leave their homes and spend significant chunks of time aboard IOWA in order to complete the myriad tasks required to turn her into a museum. They talked about bonding over the couples’ dinner at Straw Hat Pizza. What was that same time like for their loved ones? 

We grabbed a few minutes with Jonathan’s lively and endearing brood for a fun exchange about what it’s like when Dad lives part of the time at home and part of the time on the ship.

Click the photo below for the video.

Halloween Is Coming Up Fast

This just in: check out the agenda for our FREE Halloween STEMebration. Something fun for everyone. (Spider rockets? We’re looking forward to seeing those!)

Come in costume and trick or treat at our candy stations, play carnival games to collect Halloween Vicky the Dog stickers, and apply fun science concepts while building your own light-up wand, flying a spooky kite, and launching a spider rocket! The family friendly Halloween movie Hotel Transylvania will be playing on the media wall at the stern of the ship and IOWA crew members will be sharing spooky story books throughout the night.

Battleship IOWA’s Halloween STEMebration will take place Saturday, October 30th from 6pm – 10pm. Be there!

This Week, Your Battleship Crew…

• Replaced some plywood that had seen better days. In the photo below the old plywood is in the foreground, the 1980s Douglas fir deck is in the middle, and the new plywood is furthest off.

• Got our aft brows (gangways) repaired in record time. Shout out to Steve Amundson. Steve runs Marine Sheet Metal on Terminal Island. Because he appreciates what Battleship IOWA gives to its community, he generously donated his time and use of his incredible shop – it’s like another world. It’s in a building that dates back to the mid 1920s and is full of machinery that would fit right in with the vintage in IOWA’s machine shop.

Chief Dave Moser working on the brow at Steve Amundson’s shop.

Steve, Chief Dave Moser, and Mike Getscher welded their hearts out till around 01:00 AM to have the brows ready to go in time to be reinstalled this morning.

Photos: Top – Chief Moser and Mike Getscher welding far into the night. Bottom – Chief, volunteer John Pakusich, and others reinstalling the brow.

Thanks also to Bragg Companies (who lifted Vicky’s Doghouse aboard a few months back) and IOWA volunteer Conrad Weidenkeller for getting a crane to us in an incredibly timely fashion. Excellent, much appreciated work by the tremendously professional Bragg crew.

Become a Plank Owner Today

Memorialize your service or a loved one’s – register to become a Plank Owner for the National Museum of the Surface Navy.

As a Plank Owner, you receive special benefits – including free inclusion of your profile with Together We Served, earning points in our Haze Gray recognition system (details coming soon), and recognition on our future Plank Owner listing.

Sign up today. It’s free!

NOTE: If you prefer not to donate electronically, please mail your check to:
Attention: Development Department, 250 S. Harbor Blvd., San Pedro, CA 90731