A Proud Heritage Of Strength Listen for the footsteps of those who have gone before you. They speak to you of honor and of the importance of duty. They remind you of your own tra- ditions. These words, spoken by Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger at Mis- souri ' s recommissioning, serve to re- mind us of the unbroken line of naval professionalism that links our heritage today with the ship ' s precommissioning crew who arrived at the Brooklyn Na- val Shipyard in 1943. Our strong ties with the State of Mis- souri were cemented by Margaret Tru- man, daughter of the state ' s junior sen- ator, Harry S. Truman, when she chris- tened the ship in January 1945. In our hearts we can relate to the men who took this mighty warship to sea for her first sea trials. And as we gaze at the bronze plaque set in the Surrender Deck, we can visualize the Sailors and Marines standing and clinging from ev- ery vantage point possible to view the Japanese surrender. We are also aware of the one-hundred-seventy-six Sailors who, at the time of the ceremony, were already ashore in Tokyo as part of the Third Fleet Landing Force. We hope that our feelings for this ship can equal those of President Harry S. Truman who visited here a number of times, and on one occasion trans- formed this nation ' s most historic trea- sure into a floating White House as the First Family traveled from Brazil to the United States. We like to think that Harry S. Truman would be proud of the Sailors and Marines who sail Missouri today in the spirit of liberty. He was the one who taught us that the spirit of liberty, the freedom of the individual and the personal dignity of man are the strongest and toughest and most endur- ing forces in all the world. As we tread the teakwood decks we are aware of the echo of footsteps of the great leaders who have walked these same decks: Halsey, Nimitz, Mac Ar- thur, Wainwright, and Fraser. The spir- it of the ship ' s former captains from Callaghan to Kaiss remains to remind us of honor and dedication. We follow in the footsteps of the men who fought at Wonsan and Hungnam, the men who deployed on Midshipmen training cruises and the men who su- perintended Missouri ' s inactivation. It is a proud heritage we have to fol- low. A heritage of strength — strength through vigilance, firepower, readiness, diplomacy, manpower, endurance, and tradition.
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