.
My greatest 2009 moment....
Fri, 01/08/2010 - 8:03pm
Some of you may recall that I spent about 3 years aboard the USS Missouri BB-63 and was a decommissioning crew member in 1992.
Well, this year I got to go to Hawaii and visit the ol' girl. It's been aroun 17 years since I was aboard the Might Mo and it was down right chilling. And thrilling. :D
I ran on board like a 9 year old and went berzerk. The curator of the now museum met us on the pier and told me (and my group) that we had cart blanche. Wherever I wanted to go, we went. (with the exception of some areas restricted by the military or the EPA).
The first place I went was my rack. That's a bed to all you landlubbers. :) And I opened up the locker underneath to find 3 bumper stickers that I had placed there while on tour! One from my home town of Las Vegas, one from LA where I was stationed, and one from Hobart, Tasmania, one of my favorite ports of call. It was completely unexpected and the highlight of my trip.
After that, I visited my office, which was also strangely intact. The curator was doing a fantastic job of restoring the whole thing. The Mo was getting prepped for dry dock, so it was a mess, but it didn't matter to me. It was just awesome to be there.
Went to the mess decks, went in the guns, went to my old GQ station in the 5 gun magazine, and sat in the captains stateroom to relax awhile. haha relax... The whole time we were in there I kept telling my friends that we needed to get out of there. I felt like i was going to get into trouble. :D
Anyways, it was just and absolutely awesome flashback and I was very blessed to have the opportunity to see her again.
And THAT, is my greatest 2009 moment.
Sun, 01/10/2010 - 4:31pm
#2
Did not know that... good story Myx, glad you had a blast... so to speak. :D
Sun, 01/10/2010 - 11:24pm
#3
Oh, that's so cool.
When I was a kid, maybe about 10 or so, I visited the Mighty Mo when she was berthed in Bremerton, WA. I was a WWII geek and that was one of the biggest thrills of my childhood.
It was a sad day when she left our state.:(
Tue, 01/12/2010 - 1:06am
#4
Hey NWB, you can see the Missouri sitting in Bremerton again! All you have to do is rent Officer and a Gentleman. I think it's the motorcycle scene as he's riding past the row in the boneyard.
She really is an amazing ship. My little brother got to go on it when he was around 13 or 14 when I was stationed there. He still talks about it today and that was nearly 20 years ago.
I really could have visited for a week. So another cool thing I saw on board was I met another returned crew member that had served during the Korean war. A really nice guy (we took a picture together). Anyways, I was telling the wife, we need to put this on the list. I'd love to go live in Hawaii for a year and work on board the Missouri giving tours. That would be so cool. Funny, considering how much I got tired of giving them when I lived on it. :)
Tue, 01/12/2010 - 11:23am
#5
Woah, way too cool!!!
I read the Hololulu Advertiser every week-day and saw that they put her in dry dock. the pics of putting her back were pretty amazing too.
My wife and I saw her about 4 years ago. It was insane to be on that ship. We're going back the end of next month for 9 days of R&R. I've also been on the Alabama in Mobile Alabama. The guns on those ships just make me stand in awe. I can't imagine what it would be like to hear them fire!
Of course, all this is coming from a squid. lol
__________________
Wed, 01/13/2010 - 9:04am
#6
Hey Taco, that's cool you got to see the Alabama too. And yeah, the guns are thunderous. In back of the ship the guns are one deck above the mess decks, and when you were eating while the guns were going off, the salt and pepper, etc. would dance around on the table and dust would fall from the overhead. It absolutely rattles everything. And yes, as you might imagine, it's ssssooooo f@#$'in cool!
The ol' Mo is where Japan surrendered.
My old man's ship was steaming to Korea when that was going on.
They repatriated Japanese soldiers (brought them home) for about 6 weeks and then came home after a couple of weeks of shore duty in Japan.
I think ol' Mo will always be around because of its role in ending WWII.
Sounds like you had fun.
The Fabulous
6/93-9/06
awaywithwords.us