[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 144 (Tuesday, September 17, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H5243]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    NATIONAL POW/MIA RECOGNITION DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
New York (Ms. Malliotakis) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. MALLIOTAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in honor of National POW/MIA 
Recognition Day, which is commemorated on the third Friday of September 
every year. This past weekend I joined the Vietnam Veterans of America 
in my district to bring attention to the more than 80,000 American 
servicemembers who were prisoners of war and those still missing in 
action.
  My community of Staten Island, New York, recently learned from the 
Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency that the remains of 
U.S. Army Air Forces Second Lieutenant Francis E. Callahan of New 
Brighton were identified after 80 years. Lieutenant Callahan and 10 
other servicemembers were killed in action during World War II when 
their plane was shot down by an enemy combatant during a bombing 
mission to Brunswick, Germany.
  At the time, the crash site could not be located by Allied forces or 
Army investigators. However, in 2015, an independent research group, 
Missing Allied Air Crew Research Team, contacted the Defense POW/MIA 
Accounting Agency historians with new information related to a possible 
crash site near Wistedt, Germany.
  The agency's investigators were able to find the location and 
recovered various pieces of wreckage between 2021 and 2023.
  Following extensive laboratory analysis, anthropological and dental 
analysis, along with the available circumstantial evidence, an 
association between the remains and Callahan was established. Now 
Second Lieutenant Callahan will be buried in Arlington National 
Cemetery to rest with his brothers.
  Sadly, 3 of the 10 members of Callahan's crew still remain 
unaccounted for. They are among the tens of thousands of other 
servicemembers who remain missing. As a nation grateful to those who 
served and those who made the ultimate sacrifice, we must continue to 
raise awareness of this issue and work toward the repatriation of all 
our POW/MIA and bring closure to their families and communities.
  The identification and repatriation of Lieutenant Callahan, along 
with Private First Class Raymond Smith of Brooklyn, whose remains 
returned to New York City in 2021, 71 years after he went missing in 
action during the Korean war, give us renewed hope that our Nation will 
fulfill its promise and commitment to return every single American who 
served our Nation on foreign land.

  As the POW/MIA flag states, these heroes are not forgotten, and we 
will do everything we can to honor their memory and bring them home.

                          ____________________