[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 12922-12923]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING OUR ARMED FORCES


                     Seaman 1st Class William Welch

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I rise to honor Seaman 1st Class William W. 
Welch, a native of Springfield, OH--an American hero who laid down his 
life for our country during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
  Seaman Welch was known to his family as Billy. He enlisted in the 
Navy, as so many did in those days, at 17. He left during his senior 
year at Springfield Catholic Central High School, so determined was he 
to serve his country. On December 7, 1941, Welch was stationed on the 
USS Oklahoma, docked at the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor. The 
Oklahoma was the first to be hit that fateful morning by the Japanese.
  Of the more than 1,300 crew aboard, 429 perished that day--a loss of 
life second only to the better known USS Arizona. The ship capsized, 
and Billy Welch was among the first of so many Americans to make the 
ultimate sacrifice for our Nation during World War II. Billy's grieving 
family was dealt an additional blow when their son's remains were not 
returned to them, and they were unable to give him a burial befitting 
his sacrifice.

[[Page 12923]]

  It wasn't until 1943 that the Navy was able to right the Oklahoma and 
began trying to identify the remains. By then, with the technology 
available in the 1940s, it was too late for most sailors. Billy and his 
fellow sailors were buried as ``unknowns,'' and they had rested in the 
National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu until last year.
  In 2014, Billy Welch's nephew, Michael, contacted my office. He was 
fighting--for want of a better term--with the Department of Defense, 
begging them to try to identify his uncle's remains with the new 
technology available in 2014. He was part of a movement of families and 
veterans trying to piece together where their loved ones were buried 
and get them returned home.
  In 2015, the Pentagon announced plans to exhume and attempt to 
identify the fallen sailors and soldiers buried in the Pacific. DOD 
began removing caskets and using dental records and DNA to identify the 
remains and return those fallen heroes to their families.
  Billy Welch was identified. Now, with the help of dedicated staff in 
my office, next month he will finally be returned to Springfield and 
buried with full military honors in his hometown. It will be my honor 
to stand with Seaman Welch's family at Saint Joseph Catholic Church in 
Springfield and witness this hero be shown the honor and appreciation 
he deserves and his family has been denied for so long.
  Billy and his fellow sailors may not have known the contribution they 
were making that day on the USS Oklahoma to future generations at home 
and around the world as the first to sacrifice their lives fighting 
tyranny during the Second World War. That makes their actions all the 
more heroic. There is a reason we call them the ``greatest 
generation.''
  We are losing more and more of that generation with each passing day. 
Less than 700,000 World War II veterans remain with us. We lose some 
430 of those heroes each day. My father, a World War II veteran 
stationed in New Zealand and Iran--what he always called Persia World 
War II--passed away back in the year 2000.
  Projects like this one are all the more important and more timely. We 
need to identify these sailors and soldiers now, while their loved ones 
are still with us and still able to pay their proper respects. We owe 
William Welch and all those who gave their lives for our country a 
burial and, equally important, a tribute that befits their service and 
their sacrifice. I will be honored to take part in that tribute for 
Seaman Welch next month.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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