‘Mighty Mo’ ceremony
to honor dead
The ship's bell will ring
By Gregg K. Kakesako
32 times for former crew members
who died in the past year
Star-BulletinWhen the brass bell of the "Mighty Mo" tolls this week, it will be rung 32 times, honoring former crew members who died in the past year.
"We hold this ceremony each year," said Herbert Fahr, president of the mainland-based USS Missouri Association, "to honor our shipmates who have died during the year."
More than 15,000 men served on "Mighty Mo" during the half-century and the three wars the battleship served in America's Navy.
On Saturday, Cyrus Topol, a World War II veteran, and Patrick Allen, who was a "Mighty Mo" crew member during the Persian Gulf war, will be the wreath bearers at a private memorial service that will be held on the oak decks of the 887-foot battleship.
Topol is a plank owner, or original crew member, who was present when the Missouri was launched on June 11, 1944, and again was on hand when the Japanese signed the articles of surrender in Tokyo Bay on Sept. 2, 1945. At 88, Topol is believed to be the association's oldest member.
More than five decades later, Allen, 28, served aboard the Missouri during the gulf war in 1991. Allen is believed to be the youngest member of the Missouri Association.
Saturday's private memorial service on the deck of the Missouri, now berthed at Ford Island, will follow a special ceremony Wednesday that will commemorate the end of World War II.
Fahr said 475 Missouri veterans and their families arrived during the weekend to participate in the USS Missouri Association's annual convention, which will be held in Waikiki this week. They were joined by another 200 members of the American Battleship Association.
Nearly 100 of them, many of them in World War II uniforms, will take up their former positions on the decks of the Missouri on Wednesday.
There were more than 2,000 sailors and Marines stationed on the Missouri on Sept. 2, 1945, when Gen. Douglas McArthur accepted Japan's surrender.
Also participating will be 700 other World War II veterans, including Filipino-American soldiers and 53 Japanese-American members of the Military Intelligence Service.
The bow of the battleship will be adorned with a 75-foot yellow plumeria lei. The historic 1945 ceremony will be replayed Wednesday beginning at 9:02 a.m., the moment McArthur 53 years ago walked up to the microphone. U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, who lost his right arm fighting the Germans in 1945, also will pay homage to WWII soldiers.
Since the "Mighty Mo's" band was reunited in 1983 at a Maine reunion, it has played at every annual convention. Missouri's band to play
Don Bradley, band member, said the battleship's band originally was designated U.S. Navy Unit Band 183 and was formed at the Navy School of Music in Washington, D.C., in 1951 -- six years after the Missouri was launched.
It joined the Missouri a year later. The band made several training cruises to Europe and the Caribbean with the "Mighty Mo" and was with the ship during the Korean War.
Bradley said after the Korean War when the ship returned to Norfolk, Va., the band members were reassigned to other naval bases.
"Most did not see each other again for 30 years," Bradley said.
It wasn't until the USS Missouri Association's annual reunion in 1983 in Portland, Maine, did the band come together again, Bradley added.
The band will perform at Wednesday's commemoration ceremony and again that evening at the banquet of the USS Missouri Association and the American Battleship Association at the Prince Kuhio Hotel.
The 18 musicians are under the direction of retired Chief Musician Tom Hill.
Gregg K. Kakesako Missouri events
Wednesday's ceremony commemorating the 53rd anniversary of the end of World War II is by invitation only.
8:30 a.m.: Opening remarks, introduction of guests.
Catch USS Missouri online at:
http://www.ussmissouri.com or
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