Akeley Post Office Renamed in Honor of Local Man Who Died at Pearl Harbor

It was a historic day in Akeley yesterday, as the city’s post office was renamed in honor of Neal Kenneth Todd, an Akeley native who was killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II while serving in the Navy.

December 7, 1941 is a day that will live in infamy. Of the 2,403 U.S. men who were killed during the Pearl Harbor attack, one was Neal Kenneth Todd of Akeley. It took 80 years to get Todd’s remains back home.

On Monday, his legacy of bravery was cemented as the Akeley Post Office was renamed in his honor.

“We will never forget Neal Kenneth Todd. The American people will never forget Neal Kenneth Todd,” said 8th Congressional District Rep. Pete Stauber at a ceremony held at the post office. “And let me tell you something – the 404 people who live in Akeley understand there’s a hero amongst us, and there will continue to be heroes out of Akeley in small-town America.”

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar was not able to attend in person, but was able to call in to the ceremony.

“My dad, who grew up in northern Minnesota, was a newspaper man, and he loved writing about the heroes among us, ordinary people doing extraordinary things,” Klobuchar said. “And I can’t think of better words to describe Neal Todd, who felt a deep devotion to his country from a young age. He was part of that generation that Tom Brokaw called the greatest generation any society has ever produced.”

Todd’s niece, Rebecca Moore, shared stories of the day her uncle’s remains were brought back home and of the day of his funeral, thanking the community and everyone involved in the renaming of the post office.

“Our family has not ever forgotten my Uncle Neal,” shared Moore at the ceremony. “We always saw his name and his portrait and now we’re going to have his name in the post office. Once again, we thank you for making this happen. It was amazing.”

Congressman Stauber sponsored legislation to change the name of the post office, which was passed in 2022. He says that after hearing the story of Neal Todd, he quickly began working to honor his legacy of bravery.

“First off, there’s not a thing I won’t do for our veterans,” he added. “And when I heard about Neal’s story and the situation and that they identified his remains, we wanted to bring him home a hero to our great state and to the Akeley/Nevis area area where he’s from and his family’s from … just a very moving moment for his family. And our office was glad to take a small part of it. I mean, we should never forget.”

About 980 of the United States Postal Service’s almost 34,000 post offices have been renamed since Congress began the practice in 1967.