As the U.S. Postal Service celebrates the USS Missouri with a Forever stamp being issued at Pearl Harbor on June 11, one local veteran is making a special trip tomorrow to the Post Office to secure his own first class souvenir of the famed American battleship that he once called home.

Local postal officials will join former Naval Machinist’s Mate William (Bill) Foley in the first sale of the USS Missouri stamps at the Bayport Post Office on Wednesday morning at 9 am. 

The ceremony, to be held at the Bayport Post Office, will include a special postal presentation to Mr. Foley and refreshments. 

The public is invited to salute Mr. Foley at this event.  He will be joined by his wife and daughter.

Records show that Mr. Foley served on the USS Missouri in 1948, four years after the battleship was commissioned on June 11, 1944.  Designed as ‘floating island’ for its serving sailors and Marines, the 887-foot long USS Missouri included a range of onboard services including dental care, an accounting office and a post office.

The battleship was affectionately nicknamed “Mighty Mo,” and had one of the most historic roles during World War II.

The USS Missouri was ordered in 1940 and commissioned in June 1944. In the Pacific Theater of World War II, she fought in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and also shelled the Japanese home islands. On Sept. 2, 1945, military officials from the Allied powers and imperial Japan assembled on her deck and signed the documents confirming Japan’s surrender and ending the war.

The battleship was then pressed into duty during the Korean War from 1950 to 1953, becoming the first ship to accept helicopter landings on her deck. She was decommissioned in 1955 into the United States Navy reserve fleets, also known as the “Mothball Fleet.” 

But the story of the Mighty Mo was not yet complete:  The USS Missouri was reactivated and modernized in 1984 and provided fire support during Operation Desert Storm in January/February 1991.

The battleship received a total of 11 battle stars for service in World War II, Korea, and the Persian Gulf, and was finally decommissioned in March 1992.

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Editor’s Note: We’ve expanded our media room with an easy-to-use media center that includes a refreshed photo gallery, postal b-roll and video files now available at media.usps.com. Media releases by state and for national news remain at www.usps.com/newsroom.

MEDIA ADVISORY
Photo and interview opportunities, including meeting Mr. Foley and family; postal officials in a presentation; sheets of stamps.
Bayport Post Office: 850 Montauk Highway Bayport NY 11705

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