NATIONAL PEARL HARBOR MEMORIAL PARADE AND PUBLIC CEREMONY
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PRESENTING SPONSOR HISTORY® / A+E NETWORKS
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USS Missouri: 1944 - 1995
USS Missouri is a 45,000 ton Iowa class battleship built by the New York Navy Yard. She was commissioned in June of 1944. In November of 1944, she transitioned to the Pacific Ocean arriving in the war zone in January of 1945. Missouri supported the Iwo Jima invasion and raids on Japan's home islands. On September 2, 1945, Missouri's deck was the site of the Japanese surrender that ended World War II.
The Korean War
The USS Missouri was the only US Battleship on active duty in June of 1950, when the Korean War began. She made two combat deployments to Korea. Following the Korean War, she was decommissioned in 1955 and for the next 36 years she was held in reserve in Bremerton, Washington and became a popular tourist attraction there.
The Persian Gulf War & Pearl Harbor
In 1986, Missouri was recommissioned along with the other three Iowa class battleships including the Iowa, the New Jersey, and the Wisconsin. For the next six years, Missouri completed a cruise around the world and fulfilled a combat role in the Persian Gulf War. In March of 1992, she was decommissioned for the final time and stricken from the Navel Vessel Register in 1995. She was then transferred to Pearl Harbor in 1998 to become a Memorial. Edwin Carter, chairman emeritus of the USS Missouri Association said of the Missouri's proximity to the USS Arizona today, "...it complements the Arizona Memorial and represents the alpha and omega of American involvement in World War II. We like to think of it as standing perpetual watch over our fallen comrades."
