Battleship USS Missouri joins the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor

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In this dramatic photo taken 22 June 1998, tug boats push the battleship USS Missouri (BB 63) to its new berth at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii to join the USS Arizona Memorial seen in the foreground. The Missouri was towed 2,600-miles across the Pacific Ocean from Bremerton, WA to Pearl Harbor.

World War II began for the United States on 7 December 1941 when Japanese forces attacked the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor and other military installations in Hawaii. Over half of the 2,400 lives lost that day were from the crew of the Arizona which was sunk by a huge explosion. More than three and a half years later, World War II ended on 2 September 1945 when the Japanese formally surrendered in a ceremony on the deck of the USS Missouri. Now, the Missouri will be used as a museum near the Arizona Memorial so together they can serve as symbols of the beginning and the end of World War II.

Today in WW II: 8 Feb 1940 Germans establish the first large Jewish ghetto in Poland in the city of Lodz. More ↓

8 Feb 1941 US House of Representatives passes the Lend-Lease Act [265 to 165].
8 Feb 1942 Battle of Sarimbun Beach begins, the first stage of the Japanese assault on Singapore.
8 Feb 1942 Japanese Offensive in Burma begins [8 Feb-2 May].
8 Feb 1945 Battle of the Reichswald: British and Canadian forces under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery begin Operation Veritable [8 Feb-11 Mar].
Visit the Olive-Drab.com World War II Timeline for day-by-day events 1939-1945! See also WW2 Books.