diff --git a/java/pom.xml b/java/pom.xml
index 15bced8f..b6e10a22 100644
--- a/java/pom.xml
+++ b/java/pom.xml
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@
         <mon.common.version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</mon.common.version>
         <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
         <project.reporting.outputEncoding>UTF-8</project.reporting.outputEncoding>
+        <timestamp>${maven.build.timestamp}</timestamp>
+        <maven.build.timestamp.format>yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss</maven.build.timestamp.format>
         <artifactNamedVersion>${project.artifactId}-${project.version}-${timestamp}-${buildNumber}
         </artifactNamedVersion>
         <shadedJarName>${project.artifactId}-${project.version}-shaded
@@ -176,8 +178,11 @@
                 <configuration>
                     <archive>
                         <manifest>
-                            <addDefaultImplementationEntries>true</addDefaultImplementationEntries>
+                            <packageName>monasca.persister</packageName>
                         </manifest>
+                        <manifestEntries>
+                            <Implementation-Version>${artifactNamedVersion}</Implementation-Version>
+                        </manifestEntries>
                     </archive>
                 </configuration>
             </plugin>
diff --git a/java/src/main/java/monasca/persister/PersisterApplication.java b/java/src/main/java/monasca/persister/PersisterApplication.java
index f1dff443..8d487d02 100644
--- a/java/src/main/java/monasca/persister/PersisterApplication.java
+++ b/java/src/main/java/monasca/persister/PersisterApplication.java
@@ -51,9 +51,30 @@ public class PersisterApplication extends Application<PersisterConfig> {
   private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(PersisterApplication.class);
 
   public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
+    /*
+     * This should allow command line options to show the current version
+     * java -jar monasca-persister.jar --version
+     * java -jar monasca-persister.jar -version
+     * java -jar monasca-persister.jar version
+     * Really anything with the word version in it will show the
+     * version as long as there is only one argument
+     * */
+    if (args.length == 1 && args[0].toLowerCase().contains("version")) {
+      showVersion();
+      System.exit(0);
+    }
+
     new PersisterApplication().run(args);
   }
 
+  private static void showVersion() {
+    Package pkg;
+    pkg = Package.getPackage("monasca.persister");
+
+    System.out.println("-------- Version Information --------");
+    System.out.println(pkg.getImplementationVersion());
+  }
+
   @Override
   public void initialize(Bootstrap<PersisterConfig> bootstrap) {
   }