[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 193 (Wednesday, November 3, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1188-E1189]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     IN RECOGNITION OF NEAL K. TODD

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DEAN PHILLIPS

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 3, 2021

  Mr. PHILLIPS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and honor Navy 
Fireman First Class Neal Kenneth Todd, who served aboard the USS 
Oklahoma, and we lost on December 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor.
  A Minnesota native, born in the city of Akeley on November 5, 1919, 
Neal enlisted in the Navy just days before his 21st birthday in the 
fall of 1940, making him one of eight children of Irena Staffenhagen to 
serve in the armed forces. Each one of the children would return home 
safely, except for Neal, her fourth born.
  Neal was assigned to the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu 
where he served alongside his brother, Fireman First Class, Wesley 
Roland Todd. America was not yet at war, but on December 7, 1941, Neal 
would be among the first Americans to make the ultimate sacrifice in 
the largest conflict humanity has ever known. His brother barely 
survived the attack.
  What makes his sacrifice even more crucial to recognize today is the 
time and effort it took to get here. On the day of the attack at Pearl 
Harbor, Neal and other sailors like him were considered missing for 
decades and presumed to be casualties. Over 400 crewmembers died on the 
USS Oklahoma alone. At the time, the U.S. military lacked the 
technological capacity to identify these individuals and return them 
home.
  Until March 1942, when months later, Neal's mother was formally 
notified that he was missing in action and had likely perished, but his 
family was not offered the closure of a proper burial. Families like 
Neal's have been left in the dark for years, knowing that surely their 
brothers and sons would not be able to share another smile or embrace 
with them, but still wishing they could give one last goodbye.
  Thanks to recent efforts by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency 
started in 2015, along with the assistance of family members of the 
lost, DNA recognition and retrieval of remains from Pearl Harbor is 
finally possible. Neal Todd's identity was confirmed in February of 
this year, and this July, dozens of

[[Page E1189]]

members of his family welcomed him home to Minnesota along with a 
traditional water salute on the airstrip of Minneapolis-St. Paul 
Airport. Neal Todd was finally returned to his hometown of Akeley, 
Minnesota, 80 years after his death for a funeral service before being 
buried in his final resting place next to his mother and father.
  I hope my fellow Members of Congress can join me in honoring Navy 
Fireman First Class Neal K. Todd and commend the efforts by the DOD and 
families like Neal's in bringing our honorable lost back home to rest. 
I thank them.

                          ____________________