Ishino’s body was found in the wreckage, and in an unusual act given the animosity of the hard-fought Pacific war, the ship’s commander ordered the pilot to be buried at sea with honors. The Zero’s wing broke off, flew aboard and started a fire.
The crew fired at the plane, which came in low and hit the ship just below the main deck. On April 11, 1945, as Allied forces fought to take Okinawa, Setsuo Ishino, a 19-year-old Japanese pilot, barreled his Zero toward the Missouri in a suicide mission. (Historical trivia: Truman’s daughter, Mary, had christened the Missouri when it was launched.) The actual papers were delivered to the office of President Harry Truman the next day. Looking on stone-faced are civilian and military officials of Japan, whose country lay in ruin after years of war.Ī copy of the surrender document is displayed under glass. Douglas Mac- Arthur, who represented the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, signing the agreement. An enlarged photo hangs there, showing Gen. The open deck where the signing took place is now covered with a canopy to protect visitors from the beating sun as they examine the historic spot. 2, 1945, while it was anchored in Tokyo Bay. During the World War II era, about 2,700 men worked aboard the ship.ĭespite its massive guns that rained down artillery during World War II and the Korean War, the Missouri’s biggest claim to fame is its role in peace: it was aboard the ship that Japanese officials signed the formal surrender agreement on Sept. It’s nearly as long as three football fields. Shuttle buses depart regularly from the nearby Pearl Harbor visitors center.Ī visit to the Missouri can take hours, if for no other reason than its immense size. It’s designated a National Historic Site and is part of the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument. Today, the ship lives on as the Missouri Battleship Memorial, which opened in 1999 and is berthed at Ford Island in Pearl Harbor.
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