From Mighty Mo to Mega-Yachts

An annual showcase of Orange County’s lush boating life was topped off Wednesday with a nod to seagoing valor.

Six Navy veterans of World War II were honored at the 33rd annual Newport Boat Show for their service onboard the Missouri, the battleship dubbed the Mighty Mo and the scene of Japan’s formal surrender. Their platform: the Zembra III, a 95-foot mega-yacht with a helicopter pad, hot tub, stately quarters and a $4.1-million price tag.

After receiving a plaque from the show’s organizers, Frank Mancini of Sun City said, “Oh-ho-ho! It’s beautiful!” as soon as his 85-year-old sea legs stepped aboard.

In his dark blue and pea-green-tipped dress socks -- no shoes allowed on deck; captain’s orders -- Mancini padded about the yacht and to a black leather commander’s seat in the control room.

“Ships ahoy!” said the retired chiropractor, who spent his Navy days as a pharmacist’s mate 2nd class in the Missouri’s hospital corps. “Ah ... this is lovely. This is nice.”

It was also quite a sight, watching the senior citizen sailors rummage around the lavish decks and modern luxuries that put the war-battered, tight-quartered Missouri, now a museum in Pearl Harbor, in a more Spartan light.

For boat show officials who wanted to honor the local veterans, showing off the yacht was part of the treat.

“These are crafts that sail all over the world,” said Don Franken, a spokesman who presented the plaques on behalf of the Newport Boat Show and the Navy League. “There’s really no better place to recognize Navy heroes.”

The show at Lido Marina Village began Wednesday and ends Sunday.

Before the tour, the retired sailors huddled on the pier as they were honored for their wartime service.

They stood -- one with a walker, two with canes, others with hunched backs -- as their former shipmate, 88-year old Ernest Thompson of Gardena, addressed a group of family members and onlookers.

“Nowadays, we’re asked a lot about the surrendering,” said Thompson, who had been a senior 1st class petty officer working a boiler room.

“But most of us had wives and children on our mind, and we just wanted to be home. Isn’t that right, fellas?” Thompson said.

Around them, signs of affluent America abounded. More than 300 vessels, including million-dollar yachts and fishing boats going for a few thousand, were on display.

Some featured onboard garages for smaller boats, while others had wood-trimmed plasma TVs and $18,000 coffee tables.

The Missouri had none of that. Most of the time, the men slept in quarters with cots stacked four high and ate bread infested with weevils.

So to happen upon a more luxurious side of sailing Wednesday was a breathtaking difference for many of the former seamen.

“The whole setup’s real nice,” said Stephen Pahulick, 80, of Northridge, who was a 1st class shipman in the gunnery crew on the Missouri.

There weren’t many plans to shop around at the show after the honorees’ reception. Don Fosburg, 79, of Whittier, who served as a 2nd class seaman on the Missouri’s radio crew, said window shopping and touring the Zembra would have to suffice.

“My son asked me if I brought my checkbook,” he said, smiling.