Collections Highlights

Every artifact or archival contribution to our Collection serves to illuminate the history and individual experience of life aboard USS Missouri. Harold “Buster” Campbell’s collection is one example.

Harold "Buster" Campbell was a baker (Bkr 2/c) aboard USS Missouri during World War II. He also "moonlighted" with the ship’s photographers and was in the right place at the right time to capture an attacking kamikaze aircraft during the Battle of Okinawa. The published image was seen around the world. The following gallery of selected images is a sampling of items in the Campbell Collection:

	Kamikaze attack during the Battle of Okinawa
	A letter opener made from aircraft wreckage
	A war diary excerpt describing the kamikaze attack
	The Japanese delegation as seen from Harold "Buster" Campbell’s vantage point in the rangefinder of Turret #2
	Harold "Buster" Campbell in the Turret #2 rangefinder; Admirals William “Bull” Halsey, Jr. and John S. McCain, Sr. in foreground.
	Harold "Buster" Campbell's Surrender Card
	A postmarked (September 2, 1945) letter home
	A view ashore in Tokyo, Japan at the end of World War II
	Homeward bound USS Missouri transits the Panama Canal
	The wedding anniversary cake Harold "Buster" Campbell baked for his wife
	Harold "Buster" Campbell with shipmates and ship’s photographers
	Bakers at work onboard USS Missouri; Harold "Buster" Campbell front and center
	Shipyard Newspaper; keepsake from USS Missouri's launch day
	The surrender prayer by ship's chaplain, Commander Roland W. Faulk
	A letter home describing first news of World War II's end.