Unveiled on September 2, 2025, in honor of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, “Pathway to Peace: USS Missouri’s World War II Experience” is a permanent exhibit aboard the historic Battleship Missouri Memorial (BB-63). The installation honors the ship’s role in the Pacific War and the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender in Tokyo Bay, while exploring the broader human, cultural, and political dimensions to the end of arguably the most significant conflict in human history.
The experience invites visitors to step into the history of the “Mighty Mo” through interactive media, artifacts, and immersive environments that bring the museum ship back to life.
The exhibit design unfolds across a series of themes that chart the Missouri’s history from its construction through its service leading up to the Korean War. Visitors are introduced to the ship’s keel laying, launch, and commissioning before moving into spaces that illustrate daily life aboard, from standard Navy routines to the unique jobs that kept the vessel operational. The tension of combat is brought forward in the General Quarters section, where sound and video projection convey the urgency of wartime action in the Pacific.
A centerpiece of the experience is the surrender ceremony of September 2, 1945, exemplified through a large-scale projection of archival film and interpretive graphics to immerse visitors in the moment when Japan formally surrendered aboard the Missouri, bringing an end to the Second World War. The story then continues through the ship’s postwar journeys, including Navy Day celebrations and the Peace Tour visits to Europe and South America.
To capture the scale of the Missouri’s story, Ideum developed custom software and built environments that merge physical design with digital storytelling. Every team within Ideum played a role in shaping the experience, from exhibit and graphic design to fabrication, software development, and hardware, ensuring the final installation felt cohesive from concept to construction.
Our fabrication combined traditional craftsmanship with advanced techniques, including CNC routing for precise casework, custom metalwork, and durable surface graphics built to withstand a maritime environment. Layered acrylic, integrated lighting, and direct-to-surface printing create clarity of display and durability.
Installing an exhibit within a historic battleship demanded special ingenuity. Ideum designed modular exhibit elements that could be hand-carried through hatches and narrow passageways; each component bolted, labeled, and rehearsed for assembly like a puzzle to minimize impact on the ship’s structure. Mounting systems are reversible and avoid drilling into historic steel, preserving the integrity of the battleship’s original fabric, and graphics are surface-mounted using magnets to prevent trapping moisture against paint. These solutions allowed the exhibit to sit lightly within the ship’s living history rather than imposing upon it.
A defining element of the project is a dedicated oral history station featuring eight video interviews with surviving World War II veterans. These conversations, conducted specifically for the exhibit, provide firsthand perspectives that ground Missouri’s history in lived experience. Veterans recall the intensity of naval combat, the anticipation leading to the surrender, and the personal significance of serving aboard the Mighty Mo.
Visitors can browse recreations of the veteran’s Naval ID cards and use those to select a veteran, then navigate through the questions asked in the interview, as if the visitor is having this conversation one-on-one. Video playback is paired with transcripts and captions, ensuring accessibility and clarity even in the ship’s bustling environment.
By placing these voices at the heart of the exhibit, the installation creates an intimate counterpoint to the large-scale projection and physical artifacts. Visitors leave not only with a sense of the Missouri’s place in history but with direct encounters with the people whose lives were defined by the events aboard her decks.
