The USS Missouri Memorial is a museum commemorating the ship’s role in World War II and the location where Japan surrendered. It is part of a larger monument to celebrate the attack on Pearl Harbor, which includes other memorials such as the USS Arizona Memorial. Admission to the USS Missouri Memorial costs $20 for adults and $10 for children.
On December 7, 1941, the small Hawaiian island of Oahu suffered a bloody Japanese air attack on its Navy base at Pearl Harbor which kickstarted US involvement in World War II. A series of memorials in 2011 stand at the spots where crucial ships sank that day on the southern side of the island, just west of the capital city of Honolulu. The battleship USS Missouri was commissioned a few years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, in 1944, and saw service against the Japanese in Jima, Kyushu and Okinawa, among others. She was the ship where Japan surrendered, ending WWII. Day tours take visitors through the USS Missouri Memorial, paying tribute to the battleship’s role in the success of the Allied powers.
The USS Missouri Memorial didn’t begin to take shape until the ship ended service in 1992. Nicknamed “Mighty Mo,” the ship and her crew had just finished a tour of duty during Operation Desert Shield/Storm, which was his final campaign. A few years later, a non-profit organization called the USS Missouri Memorial Association began rallying support for the ship to be permanently stationed at its Pearl Harbor location, in several museums commemorating the Japanese attack. In four years, the group accomplished this feat.
It is not free to visit the USS Missouri Memorial. As of September 2011, access to the site costs $20 (USD) for adults and $10 (USD) for children. Tours can include a comprehensive review of the battle stations or an insight into what daily life was like aboard ship.
This floating museum has become part of a larger monument to celebrate the attack on Pearl Harbor. The USS Missouri Memorial is docked on the north side of Ford Island directly in the middle of the harbor. Also on Ford Island are the Pacific Aviation Museum and the non-floating USS Oklahoma Memorial.
Off the island on the coast of Oahu near Aloha Stadium are two other Pearl Harbor memorials: the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and the USS Arizona Memorial. Visitors to the latter park explore on shore and then are taken by boat to the location in the middle of the adjacent channel where the USS Arizona lies underwater. This display allows visitors to look into the water to see parts of the sunken ship, where 1,777 crew members died. The USS Arizona site is the only one in this group of memorials that offers free, taxpayer-supported admission.
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