Hollister
– When Hollisterites James Kadluboski and his wife, Sandee,
arrived at Pearl Harbor last week, they didn’t think anything was
out of the ordinary. But as they approached the Battleship Missouri
Memorial, the Kadluboskis noticed that a crowd seemed to be waiting
for them.
Hollister – When Hollisterites James Kadluboski and his wife, Sandee, arrived at Pearl Harbor last week, they didn’t think anything was out of the ordinary. But as they approached the Battleship Missouri Memorial, the Kadluboskis noticed that a crowd seemed to be waiting for them.
At first, James Kadluboski assumed all the attention was intended for the elderly gentleman walking ahead of them. Kadluboski wondered if he should step out of the way, to avoid ruining any of the pictures.
“I felt kind of awkward,” he said.
However, it was the older man who stepped away, and Kadluboski who received a congratulatory handshake – he was the ship’s three-millionth visitor.
“I thought it was a joke at first,” Kadluboski said. “If I had known I was going to be so lucky, I would have been playing the lottery.”
The U.S.S. Missouri was the site of Japan’s official surrender on Sept. 2, 1945. It served in three wars – World War II, Korea and Desert Storm – before being retired. The memorial opened in 1999 and now receives around 1,000 visitors per day.
To commemorate the milestone, Captain Don Hess, who is president of the Missouri Memorial Association, gave the Kadluboskis a special tour of the ship. They visited parts of the Mighty Mo that are off-limits to the general public, including the captain’s quarters.
The Kadluboskis received a number of other prizes, including an Admiral’s cap, a commemorative coin and a T-shirt. Kadluboski said the gifts that meant the most to him were the opportunity to raise an American flag over the ship – the same flag that flew on the 60th anniversary of the surrender of the Japanese – and a piece of the Missouri’s original teak deck, inscribed with Kadluboski’s name and a picture of the Mighty Mo.
Keith DeMello, a spokesman for Missouri Memorial Association, said staff members had been counting down to the big day for several weeks. But when Kadluboski spoke to the Free Lance after his return to Hollister, he said he doesn’t want to make too big a deal out of the event.
“Listen, I really didn’t do anything,” he said.
Kadluboski, who moved from Gilroy two years ago, added that he doesn’t want to take the spotlight away from those who have served and are still serving in the U.S. military. That includes his brother Joshua Guyes, who is currently with the U.S. Army in southern Iraq. Respect for the military, Kadluboski said, is one of the main reasons he was visiting the Mighty Mo in the first place.
“I understand the importance and significance of the armed forces,” he said. “They protect our way of life.”
Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or
ah*@fr***********.com
.
