From Military.com:
"Postal Service to Honor
Battleship USS Missouri with 'Forever' Stamp”
Seventy-five years after the USS
Missouri was commissioned, the battleship where World War II came to an end is
getting its own stamp, the U.S. Postal Service announced Friday. The Mighty Mo
will appear on a "forever" stamp available June 11, exactly 75 years
after its commissioning in 1944, according to the Postal Service statement. The
stamp depicts the battleship floating atop a rippling, blue ocean in front of a
gold and gray cloudy sky, as seen in an image of the stamp released Friday.
"USS Missouri" is printed in white font below the ship's image. "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," the Postal Service said in its statement. "Large and
imposing in the frame, Missouri is shown in the disruptive camouflage she wore
from her commissioning until a refit in early 1945." On Sept. 2, 1945,
World War II formally ended aboard the USS Missouri when the military leaders
of the Allied powers and imperial Japan gathered on the ship in Tokyo Bay for a
ceremony and signing of Japan's unconditional surrender. The 887-foot-long
battleship served another four decades -- including in the Korean War and Operation
Desert Storm -- before it was decommissioned in 1992, according to the Navy. The
Missouri and its crew were also featured in Cher's 1989 "If I Could Turn
Back Time" music video, in which the singer performed aboard the
battleship in an infamously skimpy black outfit and leather jacket. In 1998,
the Missouri was towed to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and its ownership transferred
to the nonprofit USS Missouri Memorial Association Inc., which opened it in
1999 as the Battleship Missouri Memorial. It's now a floating museum, featuring
tours and exhibits on its history. The Honolulu Star-Adviser last week reported
the ship would be undergoing a $3 million restoration project ahead of the 75th
anniversary of the end of World War II next year. A dedication ceremony for the
stamp will be held June 11 at the memorial, according to the Postal Service. As
a "forever" stamp, the Postal Service said, the USS Missouri stamp
will always be equal in value to the current first-class mail one-ounce price, which
is 55 cents.
^ This is a great honor that the
USS Missouri and the sailors that served on the ship deserve. ^
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