ON the port side of the USS Missouri just below the aft funnel, the one with the big "E" on it, there's a pipe railing about 18 feet long on a deck connecting one ladder with another. I painted it. Yo, volunteers!
There’s Mo to doFirst I chipped all the old gray paint off with a pneumatic needle gun. OK, it wasn't just me. My wife and another member of her Rotary Club helped. It took the three of us about 2-1/2 hours to get all the old paint off and another half-hour to slap on a coat of green primer. We wore respirator masks, ear protection and goggles and we got very dirty. It was genuinely fun, not that I'd want to chip paint for a living.
Before going aboard, BB 63 staff provided a patient, pleasant and thorough briefing. Volunteers weren't allowed into the ship's interior, where asbestos removal is still in progress, but we pretty much had the run of the outside, including the Surrender Deck.
This was my second time aboard. The first was after this year's V-J Day observances. There was very much to be done and still is, but progress is visible and impressive. The teak decks are being sanded and repaired, new paint is gleaming up forward and a few almost-finished areas demonstrate what a showpiece the Mighty Mo will be.
Not every city has the opportunity to paint a battleship. Write bigmo@pixi.com or call 545-2263 to volunteer.
John Flanagan is editor and publisher of the Star-Bulletin.
To reach him call 525-8612, fax to 523-8509, send
e-mail to publisher@starbulletin.com or write to
P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802.