CONTRIBUTED PHOTO — Members of the original crew of the USS The Sullivans ship stand to the left of artist Pat Acton behind his matchstick model of the ship. The group was in Cedar Falls for a USS The Sullivans reunion and made a stop at the Matchstick Marvels Museum in Gladbrook to see the model.

GLADBROOK — The Matchstick Marvels Museum in Gladbrook hosted several special visitors on Sunday, as veterans and crew members from the United States Navy stopped by to see the matchstick models of the USS Iowa and the USS The Sullivans.

Matchsticks is filled to the brim with different matchstick creations built by artist and history buff Pat Acton, and he completed the USS The Sullivans model, which required 57,000 matchsticks and about 350 hours of work, in 2019. The ship the model is based on was named for the five Sullivan brothers from Waterloo who served together on the USS Juneau during World War II. All five brothers were killed in action in November 1942 aboard the Juneau.

The USS Iowa model, completed in 1998, contains 137,000 matchsticks and took Acton over 800 hours to build. The actual USS Iowa (BB-61) is now retired and has been donated to the Los Angeles based Pacific Battleship Center.

Acton’s two model ships held quite a bit of significance for certain members of the Navy who were visiting Cedar Falls last week for the USS The Sullivans reunion — as well as Irish Fest in Waterloo, which coincided with the reunion in the case of the USS Iowa crew — and when Matchstick Marvels Board Chair Lisa Reinhard learned they were in town, she just knew she had to get them out to visit the museum.

Crew members from the USS Iowa submarine, veterans who served on the original USS The Sullivans (DD-537) and current crew members of the DDG-68 version of the ship were in town, so Reinhard reached out to The Sullivan foundation, trying to reach Kelly Sullivan. Sullivan is the granddaughter of Albert Sullivan, who was the youngest brother and the only one with a child.

Sullivan told Reinhard she would love for the veterans and crew members to see the ship, but transportation was an issue. Reinhard didn’t let that phase her, though. She reached out to multiple community organizations, including the Corn Carnival Corp and the American Legion Family, to secure funding for a bus to bring the veterans and crew to Matchsticks. Then, all that was left to do was to find the time.

“It was really touch and go because they had a full schedule and I was short notice, and they were trying to figure out when to fit me in,” Reinhard said.

After a little back and forth though, they settled on Sunday afternoon. Realizing that the veterans and crew would be there around lunchtime, Reinhard reached out to Tama County Pork Producers and other community businesses to put a meal together, and everyone was more than happy to contribute.

“We had a whole Iowa meal for these people, and they arrived and went through Matchsticks and they were — I believe every one of them was impressed. I had several comments that this was the highlight of their reunion,” Reinhard said.

Acton was also able to attend the event, and he was able to discuss the models and how they were made with the special guests. He thoroughly enjoyed getting to talk with them, being an Army and National Guard veteran himself.

“They were so gracious,” Acton said. “People have a hard time picturing — when you say you make things out of matchsticks, people look at you kind of funny, but once they’ve seen my work, it’s kind of a different reaction, because they’re not expecting these huge things with either tens or hundreds of thousands of sticks in them and as detailed as they are, and so, it was kind of fun to watch them.”

Acton has been creating matchstick models for 45 years, and many of his works have historical significance. In addition to the creations displayed in Gladbrook, Ripley’s Believe It or Not has commissioned many models to display in their museums throughout the world.

He said having veterans who have served on the real versions of some of the different models he has made over the years visit Matchsticks is always fun, and it was no different when he got to meet the group on Sunday.

“It was great meeting the older fellas that served on the original Sullivans, and then you see this diverse group of sailors that are currently serving and it gives you those old patriotic feelings, I’ll tell you,” Acton said. “I got the chance to talk to a lot of the active ones that were on, and man, they did a great job representing the Navy and it was just fun overall.”

Though Acton built the model, he said being able to talk with the crew and veterans about the ship allowed him to learn a lot more about the USS The Sullivans.

The overall experience seemed to be rewarding for all, and despite the challenges presented during the planning process, Reinhard was glad she persevered.

“There were times where it was like ‘I don’t know if this is gonna go off,’ because I didn’t get that bus booked until Friday and they were coming Sunday, because we just could not get a time frame pinpointed. But it worked out great, and I know they all had a good time and we had an awesome time hosting them,” Reinhard said.

Reinhard said she couldn’t have pulled it off without the help of her fellow board members and other members of the community, and she was glad to have had Acton there to speak with them as well.

“I may have spearheaded it, but it wouldn’t have happened without everyone getting involved like that. The USS The Sullivans, their motto is ‘We stick together,’ and I kind of thought that way with the group that helped me, that we stick together. We help each other out where needed. We see a need, we fill it,” Reinhard said. “We were all humbled, I think, by the experience.”

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Contact Susanna Meyer at 641-753-6611 or smeyer@timesrepublican.com.