More than 700 people attended a commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the official end of World War II Wednesday aboard the battleship Missouri, where the Japanese surrender was signed Sept. 2, 1945. 

The “Mighty Mo,” now a memorial and museum in Pearl Harbor, was anchored in Tokyo Bay seven decades ago for the signing of the unconditional surrender. 

Michael Carr, president and CEO of the Battleship Missouri Memorial, noted that the event was being live-streamed so people around the world could “reflect on the day that launched a better future 70 years ago today.” 

Carr also asked those present to “take a moment and think about where we are.” 

Just a few hundred yards away lies the sunken battleship USS Arizona, a grave for most of the 1,177 crew members killed on Dec. 7, 1941, the date that represented the starting point for America’s involvement in the war. 

“The USS Missouri, a majestic setting for today’s event, served as the site where Imperial Japan formally surrendered to Allied forces 70 years ago, bringing light to what felt like a never-ending darkness,” Carr said. “These two iconic battleships represent America’s bookends for history’s most destructive war — a beginning and an end, a conflict and then peace.” 

About 10 World War II Missouri crew members who were present for the commemoration are now in their upper 80s and 90s. 

Donald Fosburg, who was 18 when he came aboard, remembered the battle wagon pounding the Japanese mainland and plans for the invasion that were made moot by the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 

“I don’t think as a teenager you were too concerned about anything,” Fosburg, now 89, recalled of what he might have faced. “I would be now. But almost everyone aboard ship was aware that we were going to have an invasion in October or November.” 

Carr said more than 2,000 sailors and Marines took advantage of every foothold on the ship to watch the surrender signing. 

Art Albert was one of them. A kamikaze attack on the ship on April 11, 1945, during the Battle of Okinawa, had caused injuries to his knees when he was thrown against a ladder. 

“Well, little hard feelings, but it was good to be done with it,” Albert, now 88, said of the end-of-the-war ceremony.