To all my Battleship Iowa shipmates and members of the Veterans Association of the USS Iowa
This is General Information Message # 2-2012 and is intended to provide Christmas Greetings and some miscellaneous information.
First, I want to wish each one of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy 2013.
The year 2012 will forever be etched in our memory as the year that our beloved Battleship Iowa entered into a long-awaited and well-deserved memorial/museum status in San Pedro, California. The hard work of the Pacific Battleship Center, a generous donation from the people of the State of Iowa, and the cooperation of veterans, political leaders, and battleship enthusiasts around the country made it possible for Battleship Iowa to finally become a museum after languishing for more than 20 years in the moth-ball fleet.
Battleship Iowa has been open to the public since July 7, 2012 and has already attracted more than 150,000 visitors. Each day new attractions are being added and new tours are being planned and will be included in the near future. The ship is still undergoing a major facelift and she is getting more beautiful each day. I strongly encourage you to visit the ship when you can and to follow her progress on our web site and on the web site of Pacific Battleship Center (www.pacificbattleship.com). The President of Pacific Battleship Center is featured in an interesting 3 1/2 minute video describing some of the ship tours. You can see this video at www.ussiowa.org by selecting “play video” on the home page.
Please plan to join us at the 2013 reunion which will be held October 9-13 at the Hilton Houston NASA Clear Lake, Texas. Details of the reunion may be found in USS Iowa Veterans Reunion messages #1 and #2, which are attached to this email.
I look forward to seeing each of you at the reunion and I wish you all the best during this holiday season.
Sincerely,
Jerry Gneckow
President, Veterans Association of the USS Iowa
