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By AUDREY McAVOY Associated Press Writer Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (AP) About 20 aging veterans, family members and dozens of government officials gathered aboard the Battleship Missouri Memorial to mark the 64th anniversary of the end of World War II.

The battleship was anchored in Tokyo Bay on Sept. 2, 1945, when Japanese officials came aboard to sign the surrender documents that officially ended the war.

U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie told the crowd it was fitting for the Missouri to be moored Wednesday just a few hundred yards from the USS Arizona, which sank during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that drew the U.S. into the war.

Pearl Harbor attack survivor Delton E. Walling says the anniversary was a solemn occasion. He says he was thinking of the men who died as the U.S. fought its way across the Pacific.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APNP 09-02-09 1817CDT | save this article / add to your favorites list