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.

Pearl Harbor – USS Arizona Memorial

(A Date that will live in Infamy)

I found the USS Arizona Memorial very sobering and moving, along the lines of how I felt when I visited the Vietnam Wall in Washington, DC.  It is in the WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument, and is probably the primary reason people visit the Monument.  

Appropriately, before we were taken out to the Memorial, we were first shown about a 30 minute film regarding why Japan rationalized attacking us, and how they went about doing it.  It’s sort of a documentary type film, using some footage shot by some Japanese planes sent along on the mission for the purpose of filming the attack.  I have to confess, at the end of the film, I was very angry with the Japanese and war in general.

A Navy shuttle takes you out to the actual Memorial.  Along the way, we saw several monuments to the other ships that were damaged/destroyed by the attack on Pearl Harbor.  These memorials were anchored in the places at which each of the ships were on the morning of the attack.  

As you approach the USS Arizona Memorial, you can see part of the USS Arizona that still is above surface.  They area called the barbettes, and used to hold the main guns.  We weren’t able to get on the Memorial itself, tho.  A number of months ago, the bridge leading from the dock where the shuttles would let you off to the inside of the Memorial had severe structural damage due to its foundation shifting.  So, the actual Memorial is closed to the public until it’s repaired.  Our shuttle did pass by the Memorial close up a few times and not only were we able to see the barbettes, but Jeff and I also both smelled the oil that still seeps from the Arizona, all these years later.

The sailors that died on December 7, 1941, are memorialized by name on the Memorial.  The other sailors have their names memorialized on plaques back on the National Monument grounds.  Over 1100 sailors were aboard the Arizona, and over 900 of them were killed on and are still entombed on the Arizona.  It’s an ironic story as to why so many of the sailors aboard the Arizona were lost on that day.  On the night before, December 6, 1941, there was a band contest among the sailors of the battleships in port.  First prize was a monetary one, but second prize was the granting of time the following morning to “sleep in”.  The USS Arizona band came in second place, and the sailors were taking advantage of the extra sleeping time when the Japanese attacked.  Many never knew what hit them.

This is an image of what many refer to as the Alpha and the Omega.  The Alpha is the USS Arizona, signifying the beginning of WWII in the Pacific.  The battleship on the left in this image is the USS Missouri.  It was the battle ship that sailed into Tokyo Harbor and anchored there, with its guns facing the Japan shore, while the representatives from both Japanese government and military came aboard to sign the surrender documents, ending the War in the Pacific during WWII.  I found it very ironic that the surrender documents were signed on a battleship, since by attacking Pearl Harbor, the Japanese sought to destroy the US fleet of battleships in the Pacific.

Never Forget.

A Visit to Pearl Harbor

Before we visited the USS Arizona Memorial or the USS Missouri, we took a little tour of the USS Bowfin.  At first it seemed odd to include this submarine in the WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument, but the Bowfin saw a lot of service in World War II and sunk its fair share of ships, etc.

The Bowfin is right up against the shore, but we still had to walk up a gangway to get onto the sub.  It was a little dicey, as it was sort of misting at the time.  When we went down below (carefully, on those slick ladder steps), we saw the upfront torpedo area.  It was very dark there and the images I took didn’t come out very well.

Another of the first areas we saw was what would be the mess areas for the captain and his officer crew.  Jeff wasn’t certain how often they would eat here, rather than with the men serving on the sub, but they had a small (actually, tiny) little kitchen, with a pass thru onto what seemed to be a buffet.  Next to the buffet was a small table that to me looked reminiscent of the type of kitchen table you would see in the 1950s.

A bit further down were the sleeping quarters of what I think were the officers.  The captain was lucky and didn’t have to share his sleeping quarters with anyone.  Of course, it was so small, he probably couldn’t do much more in there than turn around!  I’m assuming the room with a few bunks were the room for his officers.  I thought the fold up sink in those rooms was quite the model of space efficiency!!  Oh, and the reason I’m assuming these were officers’ sleeping quarters was that the regular sailors had their bunks both above and below the torpedoes in that storage area!  Not only could you not be claustrophobic, but, the idea of a torpedo that could sink a ship (or at least severely damage it) just inches from your face or your butt seemed a bit unnerving to me!

Along the way, we would pass thru doorways that led to the various parts of the sub that were where they could check on the direction that the sub was heading, actually raise a periscope and the engine room that powered the sub.  I formed the opinion that the sailors on this sub must have been very young, limber and smaller in stature.  To go thru a doorway, both Jeff and I had to put one foot thru, then almost sit on the base of the doorway so that we could pass our heads thru without hitting them on the top of the doorway.  Then, we stood carefully (so as not to hit our heads on whatever equipment was close to each door) and pulled our remaining leg thru!  I definitely got a workout of deep knee bends touring thru this sub!!

One of the things that submarines did during the war was to keep track of the number and types of vessels they sunk.  On a lighter note, in addition to the flags of the ships they sunk, they also had a couple of interesting emblems on it – a bridge and a bus!  Turns out, one time, they missed their target with one of the torpedoes, but managed to wipe out a bridge that had a bus on it!

Enjoy!