The Battleship of Compassion: Remembering the U.S.S. Missouri & American Strength
What would you do if you found the body of the failed suicide bomber who tried to kill you and your coworkers? Would you treat the remains with respect and compassion or with revulsion and contempt? Such questions were not hypothetical for the World War II crew of the U.S.S. Missouri and their battle-tested answers have almost been forgotten.
The kamikaze who crashed into compassion. During the Battle of Okinawa on April 11, 1945 the war literally crashed onto the Missouri’s deck in the form of a kamikaze piloted plane. Although the pilot successfully hit his target (only 11-14% of kamikaze pilots did during WWII), the 500-pound bomb his plane was carrying fell into the water just before his suicidal crash. With nearly 400 American ships being hit by kamikaze attacks during the war, the Missouri’s experience wasn’t too unique or unusual.
What made the experience historically special were the crew’s actions, under the leadership of Captain William Callaghan, after finding the body of the Japanese pilot as they were cleaning up the wreckage off their main deck: they gave him a full honor guard burial at sea. Not only did the ship’s doctors stitch and cleanup the body but several crew members stayed up all night sewing a Japanese flag so that he would be shrouded properly. On the morning of April 12, 1965, a 6-man burial detail carried the flag-draped pilot’s body to the rail near where he crashed his plane, a Marine honor guard fired a three-rifle volley salute over him, “Taps” was played by a lone bugler, and as his body was “commended to the deep” the crew stood at attention and hand-saluted him one last time. War brings out the worst in humanity but Captain Callaghan and the crew of the Missouri showed that even in the worst of times compassion and respect are signs of strength and honor.
Dead men walking to peace. The Missouri, also known as “Mighty Mo,” was destined for compassion at the end of the war as well. The surrender of Imperial Japan occurred on the Missouri when their country’s representatives signed the Instrument of Surrender, which finally brought peace between the two nations on September 2, 1945. A unique twist of compassion regarding the ceremony was that the Japanese dignitaries thought that they were never coming back alive from the Missouri and participated in their own funerals with their families just days before: since Imperial Japan instigated the war with America by attacking Pearl Harbor, the Japanese delegates thought that they would be executed for the transgressions of their country. But when General Douglas MacArthur said the following words during his speech, they knew they would see their families again:
“Nor is it for us here to meet, representing as we do a majority of the people of the earth, in a spirit of distrust, malice or hatred. But rather it is for us, both victors and vanquished, to rise to that higher dignity which alone befits the sacred purposes we are about to serve…It is my earnest hope and indeed the hope of all mankind that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past—a world founded upon faith and understanding—a world dedicated to the dignity of man…”
Where the Japanese believed there would be revenge, the Mighty Mo once again became the stage of American compassion.
We are often told that some of the main lessons of war are that man’s brutality knows no limits and humanity’s drive for self-preservation is our strongest motivation, but there are other—and arguably more important—lessons to learn such as compassion and brotherhood that should never be forgotten. The men of the U.S.S. Missouri were not only destined for but also captained by compassion during World War II. The Missouri’s compassion goes against the idea that you can only have empathy for the people of your own family, tribe or country. Her sailors were American heroes whose compassion took them to new levels of patriotism…they became patriots of humanity. On this Memorial Day, let’s remember the warriors who made compassion a sign and symbol of strength. For a hero is not only made by the life they may have sacrificed but by the life they chose to lead.
Chris is Professor of Political Science at Western Connecticut State University, a Fulbright Scholar, Director of the Kathwari Honors Program, and founding Director of the Center for Compassion, Creativity & Innovation. He is also the author of "The Compassionate Achiever: How Helping Others Fuels Success" (HarperOne, 2017).
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David
May 27, 2017
Thanks for your most beautiful message on this Memorial Week End.