By: Audrey McAvoy, Associated Press
PEARL HARBOR (AP).- About 20 World War II veterans gathered aboard the battleship Missouri in Pearl Harbor to mark the 66th year since the end of World War II.

The USS Missouri was anchored in Tokyo Bay on Sept. 2, 1945 when it hosted Japanese leaders who signed surrender documents formally ending the war.

The now decommissioned vessel is currently a museum called the Battleship Missouri Memorial.

On Friday, some 300 people — including the veterans and active duty sailors, Marines, airmen and soldiers — observed the anniversary of the end of the war with a ceremony on the vessel's teak deck.

The battleship has been moored in Pearl Harbor for the past decade. It overlooks the spot where the USS Arizona sank during the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.


Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.