Special Plaque Is Dearborn County's Contribution To The USS Indiana

A plaque made from a tree grown in Dearborn County honors the service members aboard the new USS Indiana nuclear submarine.

Aurora Mayor Donnie Hastings, Jr. and City Manager Guinevere Emery show the plaque at the Dearborn County Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, September 18. Photo by Mike Perleberg, Eagle Country 99.3.

(Dearborn County, Ind.) - A piece of Dearborn County will be aboard the new USS Indiana SSN 789 submarine.

The nuclear-powered sub is a 365-foot, 7,820-ton engineering marvel. It is the first vessel to be named the USS Indiana in about 70 years – the last being a battleship in World War II decommissioned in 1947.

Aurora Mayor Donnie Hastings, Jr. and City Manager Guinevere Emery showed Dearborn County Commissioners on Tuesday a plaque which will be part of a display on the new nuclear submarine.

“The plaque will be displayed in the sub as a tribute to their service,” Emery said.

She explained that the plaque is made from a walnut tree grown in Dearborn County. It was designed by Sign-A-Rama in Lawrenceburg.

“It will be an honor to have that housed in the USS Indiana,” added county commissioner Jim Thatcher.

The USS Indiana will be commissioned at a ceremony to be held Saturday, September 29 at 10:00 a.m. in Port Canaveral, Florida. You can learn more about the submarine at www.ussindiana.org or www.ssn789.org.