The Battleship Missouri Memorial will host a historic 80th Anniversary Commemoration of the kamikaze attack and burial at sea aboard the USS Missouri. The event brings together U.S. and Japanese dignitaries, military officials, and descendants Captain Callaghan’s family who led the crew of the USS Missouri throughout her battles in WWII.
This solemn and significant ceremony will feature lessons from war, and reflections on peace, complete with a wreath-laying on the Kamikaze Deck, where a poignant moment in history unfolded.
This story, now gaining widespread recognition, remained largely overlooked at the time. On 11 April, 1945, at 2:43 PM, a kamikaze aircraft glazed Missouri on her starboard side a little below the level of the main deck. In the crash, part of the plane was thrown onto the main deck with the rest of the wreckage falling into the water. The pilot’s body was found on the main deck and given a military burial the next day at the orders of Captain William M. Callaghan.
The day after this historic moment during WWII, President Franklin D. Roosevelt unexpectedly passed away, thrusting Harry Truman into office. The global focus on Roosevelt’s death exceeded the unprecedented act of the USS Missouri conducting a formal burial at sea to a fallen enemy — an extraordinary gesture of humanity in the midst of the deadliest war of our time.
WHEN:
Friday, April 11, 2025 at 4:00 p.m. HST
WHERE:
Battleship Missouri Memorial Fantail, Pearl Harbor, Hawai‘i
WHO:
Mike Carr, President & CEO, USS Missouri Memorial Association, leader of the organization responsible for preserving and sharing the legacy of the USS Missouri.
Mayor Hiroyuki Nuruki, Mayor of Minamikyushu, Kagoshima, Japan—the city from which many Japanese Kamikaze pilots embarked on their final missions during WWII.
Mayor Rick Blangiardi, Mayor of Honolulu, Hawaii, a distinguished leader dedicated to fostering international relations and honoring military history.Carey Callaghan, grandson of USS Missouri’s first commanding officer, Captain William Callaghan, who made the controversial yet historic decision to grant a formal burial at sea for a fallen enemy pilot—a now-famous act of humanity amid war.
More information here