[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 138 (Tuesday, September 29, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2392]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 IN HONOR AND REMEMBRANCE OF UNITED STATES NAVY ENSIGN MATTHEW RICHARD 
                               McFARLAND

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 29, 2009

  Mr. KUCINICH. Madam Speaker, I rise today in honor and remembrance of 
United States Navy Ensign Matthew Richard ``Uncle Buck'' McFarland, who 
courageously and selflessly rose to the call to duty and made the 
ultimate sacrifice in service to his country.
  Matthew McFarland was born on April 1, 1922, the youngest of eight 
children. Affectionately known as ``Uncle Buck'' by his family, Ensign 
McFarland's parents, Hugh McFarland and Grace O'Reilly, and siblings, 
Hugh, Joseph, Katherine, Margaret, Mary Grace, John and Andrew, were a 
close family with a strong connection to the Catholic faith. At Holy 
Name Church, Ensign McFarland served Mass every morning as a child 
until the day before he entered the Navy. Before entering the Navy 
Reserves in 1943, he worked at Otis Steel in Cleveland. In 1944, he 
earned the rank of Naval Aviator and trained for flight in a Fighting 
Squadron. In 1947, Ensign McFarland was posthumously awarded the WWII 
Victory Medal by the United States Navy Chief of Naval Personnel.
  He died while serving our country on February 15, 1945 at the age of 
22. Navy Ensign Pilots, McFarland and Lt. Battenfeld vanished from the 
sky during a routine flight from Sand Point Naval Air Station in 
Washington State. Seven months later the wreckage was discovered on the 
side of a mountain. For more than 60 years, the bodies of the young 
soldiers rested in a temporary grave, buried among rock and forestry, 
their names engraved on the flat surface of a boulder and a cross 
carved at the base of a tree nearby.
  Members of the U.S. military's Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command Team 
led the effort to return Ensign McFarland and Lt. Battenfeld to their 
families and permanent places of rest. Members of the Army Reservists 
from the 737th Transportation Company volunteered in the effort. On 
September 25, 2009, the body of Navy Ensign Matthew McFarland returns 
home to Cleveland, Ohio, where friends and family will gather in his 
honor and memory.
  Madam Speaker, and colleagues, please join me in honor and 
remembrance of Navy Ensign Matthew Richard ``Uncle Buck'' McFarland, 
whose service to our nation will be honored and remembered by the 
Cleveland community. Though sixty-four years have passed, the memory of 
Ensign McFarland will remain in the hearts of his many nieces, nephews, 
cousins and friends.

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