Celebrating the USS Missouri in June

 

The U.S. Postal Service will celebrate the USS Missouri with a Forever stamp next month.   

The First-Day-Of-Issue dedication ceremony will take place Tuesday, June 11, at the Battleship Missouri Memorial in Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, HI. Dedicating officials will include USPS Acting Enterprise Analytics Vice President Jeffrey C. Johnson,  USS Missouri Memorial Foundation President and CEO Mike Carr, Rear Admiral Brian P. Fort, U.S. Navy Region Hawaii Rear Admiral Samuel Cox, U.S. Navy (Retired), Director, Naval History and Heritage Command, Curator of the Navy.

The famed American battleship is being honored to coincide with the 75th anniversary of her commissioning on June 11, 1944. The battleship was affectionately nicknamed “Mighty Mo,” and had one of the most historic roles during World War II. On Sept. 2, 1945, military officials from the Allied powers and imperial Japan convened on her deck and signed the documents confirming Japan’s surrender and ending the war. 

The stamp art depicts Missouri from a low vantage point almost at sea level, cutting through the water at a moderate speed commensurate with entering or leaving port. Large and imposing in the frame, Missouri is shown in the disruptive camouflage she wore from her commissioning until a refit in early 1945. Clouds loom in the background, tinged with gold and rose from the sun’s rays.