It's official: USS Missouri gun barrel at new home
It would be hard to find an object in Sussex County history that has been treated with more fanfare than the historic USS Missouri gun barrel.
The cannon was welcomed April 16 to Sussex with a big ceremony on The Circle in Georgetown, but that was only a precursor to its unveiling April 28 during the eighth annual Fort Miles Historical Association living history weekend.
The gun barrel, which weighs more than 116 tons and is 66 feet long, was salvaged from the USS Missouri, the battleship on whose deck the Japanese signed the surrender that ended World War II on Sept. 2, 1945. The gun is similar to a pair that guarded the entrance to Delaware Bay in Fort Miles during the war. All Fort Miles guns were removed after the war and sold for scrap metal.
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Wray honors five who went beyond call of duty • Terry McGovern, vice president of the Coast Defense Study Group, who put the association on the gun barrel trail and also donated $1,000. • Jim Poyner who identified the eight guns at St. Julien's Creek and found gun barrel 371 from the USS Missouri. Three USS Missouri gun barrels, four USS New Jersey and one USS Iowa gun barrel were identified. The Missouri barrels have all found new homes, and Wray said the association is making an effort to find homes for the remaining five barrels before they are scrapped. • Nick Carter of Lewes who chaired the committee that raised $115,000 to cover costs to transport the gun. • Charles Salkin, director of Delaware State Parks, who signed the agreement with the U.S. Navy to allow Delaware to own the gun. • Dan Clark of Lockwood Brothers in Hampton, Va., who headed the effort to lift and load the gun from Virginia to Lewes. |
Among the visitors were three veterans who were stationed aboard the USS Missouri: Walter Saunders of Newport News, Va.; Roy LaFontaine of Milford; and Bob Saupee.
“With thousands of visitors to Fort Miles each year, having such an important and exciting artifact is only going to make Fort Miles and Cape Henlopen State Park a more attractive destination for Delawareans and visitors alike,” said DNREC Secretary Collin O’Mara. “It wouldn’t have happened without the hard work by the Fort Miles Historical Association, the Save the Missouri Gun Fund-Raising Committee, and the major and individual donors whose contributions brought the gun here. We thank them all for their dedication.”
The gun on the USS Missouri was discovered in a naval yard in Norfolk, destined to become scrap, until the Fort Miles Historical Association requested it, launching a fund-raising effort to move the gun to Delaware.
The cost of getting the 16-inch gun barrel to Delaware was $113,500. Funds were raised through private donations and several key grants, including grants from the G.M. Foundation and the Sussex County Council. The state Department of Economic Development’s Division of Tourism also contributed, as did almost 100 individuals.
The barrel was donated to DNREC’s Division of Parks and Recreation by the U.S. Naval Systems Command by way of a joint plan written by the association and Delaware State Parks.
“The Fort Miles Historical Association is extremely proud and honored to be able to partner with Delaware State Parks in bringing the Missouri barrel 371 to Cape Henlopen State Park,” said Gary Wray, association president. “The barrel will become the centerpiece to our Fort Miles Museum, which when completed, will be the best World War II museum inside a WWII facility in the United States.”
All money was raised by the association and a fund-raising committee chaired by Nick Carter of Lewes, a 1970 Naval Academy graduate who served in the US Navy for two tours in Vietnam and was the founder of the Delaware chapter of the Naval Academy Alumni Association.
The association is acquiring four pieces to complete the gun display; it could be another two years before the 16-inch gun barrel display is completed. It joins eight other guns currently located at Fort Miles.
