PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii -- Fifty-five years to the day after it was launched by Harry S. Truman's daughter, the "Mighty Mo" re-entered public life on Friday as the newest member of Battleship Row.

With more than 2,000 people crowding its famous decks, the full-dress battleship Missouri was dedicated as a memorial to the end of World War II. It was on those same decks that Japan's foreign minister surrendered to Gen. Douglas MacArthur on Sept. 2, 1945.

"She has always stood for freedom and an ambassador of good will," said retired Navy Capt. Lee Kaiss, the ship's last commander. "Today the Missouri takes her place as a living symbol of freedom."

The 887-foot, 45,000-ton battleship is berthed 1,000 feet away from the USS Arizona, sunk during the Pearl Harbor attack that triggered U.S. entry into World War II.

The ships are meant to be bookends signifying the beginning and end of America's involvement in World War II.

In clear and breezy weather, former Missouri crewmen took part in ceremonies similar to the recommissioning of a ship.

The ship -- which also served in Operation Desert Storm in 1991 -- arrived in June after being towed from Bremerton, Wash., where it had been mothballed since 1992.

The ship has had a high profile ever since it was christened on Jan. 29, 1944, by Margaret Truman. Nearly a year later, the battleship joined the Third Fleet in the Pacific and fought at Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Kyushu, among other World War II sites.