It was a busy day for Jacobus and his team as they prepared for the Veterans Parade at 11 a.m. through the main concourse of the fairgrounds with statewide leaders including Gov. Kim Reynolds, Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg, U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn (an Air Force and Iowa National Guard veteran), Attorney General Brenna Bird, State Auditor Rob Sand and Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig all in attendance along with hundreds of veterans from conflicts dating back to WWII — Howard McDonald, a 102-year-old Normandy veteran from Winterset, served as the grand marshal.

After event emcee Jackie Schmillen, the public affairs director for the Iowa National Guard, handed him the microphone, Jacobus delivered brief remarks from the speaking podium before the parade began. He took time to thank everyone who made the day possible, recalling the words of famed General turned President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the leadup to the storming of the beach in southwest France on June 6, 1944 and praising McDonald for his service.

“You are about to embark on a great crusade. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere are with you,” he said, quoting Eisenhower. “I’d like to thank everyone who participated today, but a special thanks to those who bring this day straight home for us… Let’s get this parade started because the hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you.”

He also hoped that events like the parade, which ran nearly an hour and featured a wide range of entries including the Iowa Veterans Home (IVH) bus, would help to connect veterans and make them more aware of the resources and services available to them.

Commandant Todd Jacobus, who oversees the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs and the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown, addresses the crowd before the Veterans Parade at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines on Monday.

“I already know I’m walking away with a couple of phone numbers of individuals who need to get connected with a service officer and don’t know how to do that,” Jacobus said. “People like me take for granted that service officers are so easy to contact through a website. That is not common knowledge out there, so we need to bridge that gap. And so we’re doing that very thing.”

The commandant, who spends plenty of time in Marshalltown due to his responsibilities in overseeing IVH, made sure to shout out Kevin Huseboe and Shari Coughenour with Marshall County Veterans Affairs for their “outstanding work” in helping retired servicemen and women get the benefits they deserve. Although a heavy rain began to fall near the tail end of the parade, Veterans Day at the fair went on undeterred with a pair of patriotic concerts — including one from the Iowa Military Veterans Band — scheduled for the afternoon.

“There’s 180,000 veterans in the state of Iowa, and I feel like the group that we saw here today was a really good indicator of that group. There was the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, we saw entries from the Military Order of the Purple Heart, AmVets,” Jacobus said before he was cut off to happily accept a challenge coin for veterans.

And he’s continually encouraged by the overwhelming support for veterans and the patriotic spirit in the air.

“There are people that build their fair calendars around this day. If I’m gonna go to one day of the fair, it’s gonna be the Veterans Day at the fair,” Jacobus said.

Despite the rainy weather conditions, a large crowd still gathered for the Veterans Parade at the Iowa State Fair. The Iowa Veterans Home bus was one of many entries.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.