Crewmen Who Served on the Battleship Missouri in Three Wars Are Interviewed to Tell Their Ship's Story in History Channel Special

Crewmen Who Served on the Battleship Missouri in Three Wars Are Interviewed to Tell Their Ship's Story in History Channel Special

HONOLULU, Jan. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Generations of crewmen who served on the nation's last battleship, the USS Missouri, tell her story in a new History Channel special, "The Three Wars of the Battleship Missouri," which premieres Jan. 28 at 8 p.m. and repeats midnight EST.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050126/LAW042 )

"You would have to go back to "Old Ironsides," the USS Constitution, to find a warship as rooted in history as the USS Missouri," producer Lou Reda said. "She sailed three generations of U.S. sailors to triumph in the cause of freedom."

The USS Missouri, launched in 1944 and decommissioned for the final time in 1992, was the last U.S. battleship ever built and the last in service. Japan's WWII surrender was signed on her decks on Sept. 2, 1945. But her story does not end there. The Mighty Mo's main battery firepower became a legend in Korea, with her nine 16 inch-barrel guns hurling 1,800-pound shells as heavy as Volkswagens over 23 miles in defense of U.S. land forces. In the 1980s, the ship went through modernization that included ship-launched Tomahawk missiles, and in 1991 the Missouri fired the first shot in Operation Desert Storm.

"The big guns' pinpoint precision, alongside an awesome upgrade of high-tech weaponry kept her as lethal as ever," Reda said.

Today a plaque marks the exact location of the WWII surrender on what is now called the ship's surrender deck at the Battleship Missouri Memorial in Pearl Harbor, where the decommissioned Missouri watches over her fallen comrade, the USS Arizona, a mere ship length away. The memorial has launched a yearlong commemoration of the end of WWII that culminates with the 60th anniversary of Japan's surrender on Sept. 2, 2005.

The Missouri's -- and the world's -- last battleship captain, Albert Lee Kaiss, said: "The USS Missouri stood for everything that is great in this wonderful nation today. All of America needs to know and understand what this proud ship did to reach this objective and how she served our country."

"It's time to tell this important story," said Marc Etkind, executive producer for the History Channel.

For additional information about the memorial, visit www.ussmissouri.org.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050126/LAW042
AP PhotoExpress Network: PRN4
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: USS Missouri Memorial Association

CONTACT: Liz Wambold of Reda Productions, +1-610-258-2957, for USS
Missouri Memorial Association; or Keith DeMello of Battleship Missouri
Memorial, +1-808-741-2783

Web site: http://www.ussmissouri.org/

NOTE TO EDITORS: Reda available for interviews. Additional photos and b-roll available.

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