Good morning Navy,

Permission to come aboard?

Long story short, just returned from touring USNA at Annapolis and something sparked my interest regarding WWII.

Other than O6's and above who were obviously hand picked to be there, was there any effort to get sailors that had been at Pearl Harbor to also be at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay? For example, was the Missouri's (1944) crew done randomly or were there an unusually large number of Arizona survivors, etc. ?

Thanks everyone.

quote:

Originally posted by O4Psyoper:
Good morning Navy,

Permission to come aboard?

Long story short, just returned from touring USNA at Annapolis and something sparked my interest regarding WWII.

Other than O6's and above who were obviously hand picked to be there, was there any effort to get sailors that had been at Pearl Harbor to also be at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay? For example, was the Missouri's (1944) crew done randomly or were there an unusually large number of Arizona survivors, etc. ?

Thanks everyone.

04Psyoper
Having had some good experiences with many services allow me to reply.

The attached crew of any Naval Vessel is called "Ships Company", and Ships Company is a permanent fixutre to any Commissioned Naval Ship only changed by individual PCS transfers or End of Enlistments/Commissions, much like a Battalion only more fixed.

The various photos/videos showing the signing of the papers aboard the USS Missouri in 1945 reflect that many invitees were present for the signing other than Ships Company. The 1945 paper signing I highly suspect was done with only the USS Missouri's Ships Company plus the many dignataries that could fit from surrounding Commands. I have never seen a document or evidence leading me to believe that any Pearl Harbor or USS Arizona survivors were identified as invited and present for the paper signing by Gen McAthur and the Japanese representatives.

I solicit any correct to my statement.

They may not have been invited, and this is not something that I have looked into, but there is a chance they could have been part of ship's company. The survivors were transferred to other ships and some could have been transferred to the Missouri.

Thanks folks.

The story was that an unusually high number of Pearl Harbor vets were present. Now, as was pointed out, Mac invited Wainwright, etc., but to accomplish this in the overall enlisted ranks would seem to be quite a task.

I suspect it is a highly suspect war story. (Sea story? )

Thanks again!