by Joe Snyder
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Excuse me for reminiscing once again, but what is an old man to do but relish events of the past since many of today’s happenings aren’t too exciting and barely qualified as historical highlights. Of course some people wouldn’t agree with me on this.
I notice that the famous Battleship USS Missouri is scheduled to be taken out of Battleship Row at Pearl Harbor in a couple of weeks. It has been anchored there along with other notable vessels from World War II. It will be taken to Naval Shipyards for some much needed restoration repairs. Once again it will eventually take its place alongside other historic battleships and vessels early in 2010.
The Mighty Mo became famous when the surrender ceremony of WW II took place on its deck in 1945. It was first launched in 1944 and fought in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. It was decommissioned in 1955, but was recommissioned in 1986 and I was invited to that special ceremony in San Francisco as a wartime member of General MacArthur’s press staff. What an exciting time that was for me, and Kathy, as we stood on the deck where last I saw General MacArthur and other officials sign the surrender.
One of my prized possessions is a piece of the wooden surrender deck given to me after that special occasion. I also remember being interviewed by a Japanese broadcaster for release in Japan. Sorry I didn’t ever get to hear or see that broadcast.
After it’s recommissioning it was ordered to fire the first shots of the Gulf War in 1991.
The Missouri was last in dry dock in 1992, just after it was decommissioned for the second time. It has been moored at Pearl Harbor for the last decade after supporters beat out patriotic groups in Bremerton, Wash., San Francisco and Long Beach, Calif. for the right to host the memorial permanently.
The 65-year-old ship is said to be in good shape but some rust is protruding from peeling paint in a few areas and the teak wood deck is warped and bent in others. The ship’s exterior is due to be sanded down and repainted in an $18 million overhaul paid for by memorial reserve funds and a Department of Defense grant.
The ship has been moored for years just a few hundred yards from the USS Arizona, a battleship that sank in the Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In its location it is a startling symbol of the beginning and the end of WW II and all the sacrifices that were made in between. Over 400,000 visitors have toured the ship annually.