The Mighty MO

The third leg of our visit to the WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument was a visit to the USS Missouri, or the Mighty MO, as it’s known to many.  

The Missouri was not at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.  In fact, it wasn’t even built then.  It was built during the war, and played a distinctive role in the war when it came to Pearl Harbor.  It was where Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945, ending the War in the Pacific.

I found it very ironic that the Missouri, a battleship, was chosen as the place of the surrender.  Ironic because Japan had pretty much wiped out the US Fleet of battleships in the Pacific with the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  So, the idea of this US battleship, pulling into Tokyo Harbor with its guns trained on the Japanese main land, seemed a fitting end to that portion of the war.

While on the Missouri, Jeff had me climbing up and down the stairs to go below deck, on the main deck and above deck to see the various components of the ship.  Needless to say, I got quite the workout that day!  It was interesting to see the much more (relatively speaking) spacious bunks the sailors aboard the Missouri had (versus the USS Bowfin), the touch of normalcy of a post office and the Conning Tower, where the helm and Engine Order Telegraph (EOT) were located.  The helm, of course, was used to steer the ship, and the EOT was used to communicate speed changes to the engine room.  The Conning Tower was located at just about the highest point on the ship we could get to.  I was at first relieved to know that there were no more stairs to climb.  However, that relief was somewhat short-lived when I realized that in order to go down some of the stairs, I had to go backwards!  Some of the “stairs” were more like ladders, and the safest way for me to get down was to approach them backwards, much like you’d descend a ladder!  Of course, if I was once again in my 20s, I probably would have felt safe approaching it facing forward and semi-slid down the stair-ladder!

Of course, the main purpose of visiting the USS Missouri, was to see where the surrender documents were signed on that day in September, 1945.  Once again, it was a sobering moment to think about all the lives lost during this war.  

And, leaving the Missouri, I had one last look at the Alpha and the Omega – the beginning and end of the War in the Pacific during WWII.  In this view, I almost feel like the Missouri is watching over the lost souls on the Arizona.

Never Forget.