[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 96 (Friday, July 21, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7443-S7445]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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  TRIBUTE TO WILLIAM GRANT SMITH NEAL ON THE 56TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 
                        AMERICAN LANDING ON GUAM

 Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, 56 years ago today, the United States 
Marine Corps landed on the island of Guam to liberate its people from 
Japanese occupation. One of the marines involved in that action was 
William Grant Smith Neal who subsequently received the Purple Heart for 
wounds sustained during action on that island the following day. 
William Neal died on July 9, 2000 and one more American veteran of 
World War II has been taken from us. To honor Mr. Neal, and all 
veterans who served during that war, I believe it is fitting to outline 
the life of this man as a tribute to his generation which offered every 
full measure to keep this country safe.
  On January 22, 1923, in Utica, Kansas, was born the first child to 
Glenn and Bessie Neal. As evidence of close attachment with family 
(which has become a Neal trademark) Glenn and Bessie wanted to name 
their son William Grant Neal after his grandparents, William Neal and 
Grant Smith. In the excitement, the doctor became confused and the name 
affixed to the baby's birth certificate was William Grant Smith Neal. 
However, to family and friends, he became known simply as Bill.
  In fact, it was not until Bill entered the Marine Corps 18 years 
later that a document search revealed the complete scope of Bill Neal's 
full name.
  Bill's father was employed by the Missouri Pacific Railroad and his 
job relocated him and the entire Neal family in the late 1920's to 
Horace, Kansas, a community located nearly on the Colorado border and 
right in the middle of the coming Dust Bowl. As a child, Bill soon 
became familiar with athletics and was a member of the Horace 
Elementary Basketball Team during the 5th and 6th grade. While playing 
in a double elimination tournament, Bill's team won the final game, but 
with only three players remaining; all others had fouled out. Just like 
life in the West Kansas plains during the 1920's and 30's, playing 
basketball there was tough stuff, and Bill proved he had what it took: 
he was one of the final three.
  By the mid-1930's, the Neal family was moving again, this time to 
Hoisington, Kansas, where firm roots were put down. At Hoisington High 
School, Bill again excelled in sports as the football quarterback and 
in basketball and track. Naturally, his little sisters were very proud 
of him and anytime they would see Bill in downtown Hoisington, they 
would rush to his side and try to engage him in conversation. Being the 
big brother, however, Bill's response to such attention was normally 
the command, ``Go Home!"
  Other girls were more successful. On one occasion, a girl in Bill's 
class appeared at the Neal home, knocked on the door, and asked for 
Bill. When Bill stepped outside, she quickly kissed him and ran away.
  She wasn't taking the chance of being told to go home.
  After High School, Bill pursued higher education at Wichita 
University, known today as Wichita State University, on a football 
scholarship. But world events were soon to disrupt Bill Neal's formal 
education for 4 years and, instead, provide him a role in one of the 
most important events of the 20th Century.
  The December 7th attack on Pearl Harbor stirred the hearts of many 
young Americans intent on protecting our nation's shores and interests 
from evil forces then afoot in the world. Bill Neal was no exception.
  Although not yet of age to enlist without parental consent, Bill 
immediately sought to join the U.S. Marine Corps and asked his father 
for approval. However, his father, himself a veteran of the First World 
War, was not eager to watch his young son march off to what he knew 
awaited on distant battlefields and, instead, sent him back to school 
in Wichita until such time that Bill would otherwise have to sign up 
for the draft. That time soon came and on July 11, 1942, Bill Neal 
entered the United States Marine Corps and set off from Kansas by rail 
to Marine boot camp in San Diego, California. Bill had never before 
stepped foot outside the state of Kansas, but now he was about to enter 
a far and dangerous world.
  After boot camp, Bill was sent to New Zealand, which was then a 
staging area for hostile activities in the South Pacific. On his first 
Sunday there, Bill attended service at a local Methodist Church where 
he met the Craig family: Bob, his sons Bruce, Wallace, and Russell and 
Auntie Maggie. Following service, the Craigs invited Bill home for 
dinner and in a short time, he had become their ``adopted son''. Auntie 
Maggie taught him to drink tea in her kitchen and Wallace took him to 
rugby games.
  The friendship which developed between Bill and the Craigs continued 
through the years and Bill and his wife Natalie recently made a trip to 
New Zealand to renew that friendship. Just last year, Russell Craig and 
his wife Iris made a trip to America where Bill and Natalie served as 
their guide from one coast all the way to the other.
  But, the South Pacific in the 1940's was no vacation spot. Before 
long, Bill embarked from New Zealand for less hospitable receptions on 
Bouganville and Guadalcanal. The taste of Auntie Maggie's tea was soon 
replaced with the stench of hot, wet jungles.
  On July 21, 1944, Bill Neal came ashore at Guam in the second wave 
landing on Asan Red Beach. One day later, July 22nd, Bill was in a 
foxhole with four other marines when the direct hit of a Japanese shell 
fell right on their location. Three of Bill's companions were killed 
instantly. Bill would

[[Page S7444]]

oftentimes say that every day of his life after that foxhole was a 
gift. It was a gift, to him and to all of us.
  The wounds Bill suffered on Guam placed him in a Honolulu hospital, 
and after recovering he went home to Hoisington for what was to be an 
extended leave. But meanwhile, the storming of Iwo Jima and its 
resulting high number of casualties forced the military to call 
available servicemen back into the theater of operations. So ended 
Bill's home leave and once again, he was kissing his mother goodby and 
boarding a train for the Pacific and a ship back to Guam where he was 
made pack-ready to invade Japan.
  Bill was under no allusion. Everyone knew that an American invasion 
of the Japanese home islands would be very grim work and the chances of 
survival not promising. But that was exactly the breach into where Bill 
Neal was about to step when word came of the flight of the Enola Gay, 
the dropping of two Atomic Bombs, and the surrender of Japan. Bill 
often acknowledged that Harry Truman, in making the momentous decision 
to use atomic weapons, not only ended the war, but also saved his life.
  With the war's end, Bill returned to the beloved homeland for which 
he had risked his life, and nearly paid the ultimate sacrifice. He 
readjusted to civilian life and was by 1946 enrolled at Manhattan, 
Kansas, in the Kansas State College, now Kansas State University, with 
a major in Agriculture Education and a membership in the Acacia 
Fraternity. He was heard to claim that he had returned to his native 
soil to ``marry a little Kansas farm girl''. He was soon to get his 
wish.
  One September night in 1946, Bill and a group of his friends drove 
out into the Riley County countryside with the less-than-noble 
intention of appropriating some watermelons from a nearby farm. The car 
in which they were riding was not properly large enough for the task 
and Bill found that someone was going to have to sit on his lap. Not to 
his dismay, that someone was a little Kansas farm girl from near 
Elbing, who, though an accomplice in the affair, was probably far more 
innocent than anyone else involved. But watermelons aside, Bill Neal 
had met his ``little Kansas farm girl'' and it is doubtful if any other 
raid has been ever so successful.
  Two days before Christmas of the following year, Natalie Baker's 
mother put her daughter on a bus in nearby Newton, Kansas, and within a 
number of hours, Natalie had arrived in Bill's hometown of Hoisington 
to meet the entire Neal family for the first time, visit the minister's 
house, and get married, all in one day. At the wedding there was only 
one guest, uninvited at that, by the name of Rex Archer who was one of 
Bill's fraternity brothers in Manhattan. After the ceremony, Bill's 
mother prepared a feast and sitting at the table, Rex demanded 
Natalie's attention and told her to take a good look at the man she had 
just married. ``Just look at that,'' he told her, ``just see what your 
kids are going to look like!'' Bill's father thought that was pretty 
funny. To Natalie it may have been a little sobering, but it was too 
late to back out, not that she would have anyway.
  Less than a year later, it was time to test the prediction. On 
September 29, 1948, Bill and Natalie Neal had their first child, Candi, 
born in Manhattan, Kansas. The following night, Bill's fraternity 
brothers gathered outside Natalie's room in the hospital to serenade 
her and her infant daughter with the Acacia Sweetheart Song.
  By January of 1950, Bill had graduated from college, but jobs were 
hard to find and his first post-graduation employment was in the form 
of temporary jobs in eastern Colorado and Salina, Kansas. It was in 
Salina on August 19, 1950, that Bill and Natalie's second child, a son 
named Bill, Junior, was born, known to all of us now as Billy. The Neal 
family was now complete.
  Not long afterward, Bill was offered a position as an instructor in 
Ellsworth, Kansas, teaching veterans skills related to agriculture. To 
Bill, this was a very rewarding experience and one which gave him many 
long lasting friendships with his students. However, another vocation 
was calling. In 1953, Bill was offered a job as claims adjuster with 
the Farm Bureau Insurance Company, which began a career that lasted 
more than 30 years. After a short training session in Great Bend, Bill 
was assigned to the Farm Bureau office in Garden City.

  The early 1950's were particularly brutal in western Kansas where 
dry, hot, windy days would kick up dust storms from which it was nearly 
impossible to escape. One Spring day in 1955, Bill was on the phone to 
a Farm Bureau office in eastern Kansas talking about the possibility of 
him taking a position in that part of the state. Bill asked if the wind 
was blowing in eastern Kansas that day and was told no, the sun was 
shining, the sky was blue, and the birds were singing.
  Bill looked out his window in Garden City, couldn't see across the 
street for all the dust, and at that moment the decision was made to 
move the Neal family across the state to settle in Altamont, which has 
remained the Neal home ever since.
  Always quick to adopt the local community spirit, Bill for a time 
taught Sunday School at the Altamont Presbyterian Church to high 
school-age and young adults. He even held briefly the position there as 
Assistant Sunday School Superintendent. One Sunday both the 
Superintendent and the pianist were gone leaving Bill fully in charge.
  He arranged for a substitute pianist and all seemed to be going well. 
When someone in the class suggested a particular hymn, Bill joined in 
with enthusiasm, but didn't notice that his hymnal was missing a page 
and he was singing a different song. Not long after that, Bill decided 
to pass on the role of Assistant Superintendent to another.
  All of us, in our own way, have our own cherished memories and 
stories of Bill Neal. Some of the remembrances of his former coworkers 
and friends include those of Jim Cerne, who described Bill as simply, 
``his mentor''. Also, Paul Schmidt, former Cherokee County Farm Bureau 
Agent, recalls the time his wife was concerned about his health and was 
pressing him to get a check-up at a clinic in Ft. Scott. Bill thought 
the best way to get Paul to see a doctor was to agree to see one as 
well. He told Paul, if you go, I will go along with you for the same 
treatment, and it worked. Although they were tempted to sidetrack their 
trip from Ft. Scott to a Missouri golf course, they did get the check-
up. However, the results were a little unexpected.
  Paul got a clear bill of health and Bill ended up getting gall 
bladder surgery.
  Slick Norris, while the Altamont Grade School Principal, learned of 
Bill's former achievements in field and track and one day asked him to 
give a demonstration to the students on pole vaulting. Young Billy Neal 
was quite proud when his ``old dad'' was able to top 8 feet in prime 
form at the age of 39.
  Bill's love of history was well known. Billy and others often noted 
how Bill always managed to land on ``yellow'' in Trivial Pursuit. But 
beyond that, Bill was a serious student of history and served well as 
the family genealogist. In fact, on a recent trip to Illinois and 
Indiana, he uncovered some interesting and long-forgotten tales of his 
mother's ancestors.
  For others of us there are differing impressions. Grandchildren will 
be quick to remember their grandpa's booming voice and hearty laughter. 
And, it will be easy to imagine Bill still making the rounds at the 
Parsons Country Club.
  Honesty was a standard Bill lived by every day of his life. On a 
recent tour of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bill promptly 
provided the full suggested donation price posted on a museum table, 
even after a local artist informed him it was just fine to offer only 
50 cents.
  Similarly, during a tour of a Mexican border town, Bill was walking 
down the street and came upon a young woman selling tablecloths on a 
display. He asked her the price and she said $7. When he asked her for 
a sack to put them in, she misunderstood and said, $6. Anyway, Bill was 
never one to dicker.
  But, maybe, it was his never-failing optimism that was Bill Neal's 
greatest calling card. To him, every morning was a ``glorious good 
morning'' and every day brought his greeting of a most deliberate 
``rise and shine''!
  Aside from family and friends, though, it was perhaps the U.S. Marine

[[Page S7445]]

Corps and his experience during the war years that best shaped the 
qualities and character of Bill Neal. For many veterans, the horrible 
experiences of war are not the subject of comfortable conversation, and 
such was the case with Bill. Not until 1992 would Bill discuss many of 
his war experiences with even members of his immediate family.
  In 1992, Bill and Natalie attended the 50th Anniversary of the 
founding of the 3rd Marine Division in San Diego. That event, coupled 
with his reunion of old friends and sojourners of harms way, served as 
an invitation for Bill to release many of the memories he had held for 
half a century. He began to open up and talk about those years and let 
us all share in the pride of what he and others did for his country and 
for us.
  Nearly every year since then, Bill and Natalie attended these annual 
reunions where ``Semper Fidelis'' is demonstrated in a big way. In July 
1994, Bill and Natalie participated in a charter flight where a large 
contingent of former fellow Marines, and their families, returned to 
Guam for the 50th Anniversary of the American landing on those shores.
  As they approached the island, the pilot slowly circled the beaches 
below where in 1944, Bill and his comrades slogged ashore toward a 
hostile enemy and an uncertain fate. Its not hard to imagine the rush 
of emotions everyone aboard that plane experienced either remembering 
or imagining what it had been like. Once on the ground, the people of 
Guam came out to cheer the return of the liberators who marched onto 
their shores all those years ago and where every year since, July 21st 
is celebrated as ``liberation day''.
  While the image of hero is real, it is not necessarily as a 
liberator, a warrior, or even as the recipient of the Purple Heart that 
we recall in the person of Bill Neal. Instead, it is of a loving 
husband and father. The relationship shared by Bill and Natalie for 
more than 50 years has been more than a model marriage. It is unlikely 
there has ever been another couple more dedicated to each other, more 
in tune with each other, and more deeply in love with each other than 
Bill and Natalie.
  Bill and Natalie have given us two extremely intelligent and talented 
children, 8 grandchildren, and 2 great grandchildren, so far. Other 
surviors include two brother, Cecil Neal of Oregon, Wisconsin and 
Willis Neal of Overland Park, Kansas; five sisters, Glenna Schneider of 
Tribune, Kansas, Twyla Miller of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Sally Hager of 
Dighton, Kansas, Phyllis Luerman of Hoisington, Kansas, and Penny 
McClung of Attica, Kansas. Bill was preceded in death by a sister, 
Jessie Kasselman.
  In many ways, Bill Neal lived the American dream. Rising from humble 
origins in the still untamed plains of western Kansas, he went on to 
accomplish a challenging career, marry a lovely and talented woman, and 
produce loving and dedicated children. He offered everything, including 
his very life, in the protection of those things most important. He met 
the challenge of his generation when foreign oppression threatened our 
very way of life. He came to adopt and live by the creed of his fellow 
Marines, the one which it is not now too difficult to imagine him using 
to salute those most dear to him.
  Semper Fi!

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