Sources: findagrave U.S., National Cemetery Interment Control Forms, 1928-1962

Name: Rodney John McNeil Rank: Staff Sergeant Service Number: 6524281 Service: Company F, 5th Engineers, US Army Date of Birth: October 11, 1902 Place of Birth: Boisdale, Cape Breton County, Nova Scotia Date of Enlistment: 1938 Age: 35-36 Place of Enlistment: Unknown Date of Death: April 23, 1940 Age: 37 Cemetery: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia Grave: Section 18, 2348-C Rodney John McNeil was the son of Michael John MacNeil (b. 1871) and Mary (McMillan) McNeil (b. 1872), the husband of Catherine Louise Stover (1909-1974), and the father of Rodney Michael MacNeil (1940-2016). Rodney arrived in the United States in 1928. By 1930, he was living at Schofield Barracks in Honolulu, Hawaii, serving as a soldier in the U.S. Army. He remained stationed there through at least 1935. Between 1930 and 1935, Schofield Barracks was home to the Hawaiian Division, including the 21st and 35th Infantry Regiments. During this interwar period, Schofield Barracks on O’ahu served as the headquarters for the Hawaiian Division, formed in 1921 and active until 1941. Its primary mission was the defense of the Hawaiian Islands, which were considered a strategic outpost in the Pacific. He married Catherine Louise Stover on January 25, 1939, in Virginia. During World War II, Rodney was serving with the 5th Engineers. Before WWII, the 5th Engineers were organized as the 5th Engineer Regiment, a regular Army unit focused on construction, fortifications, and combat support. It was relieved January 11, 1936, from assignment to the 7th Division and assigned to the 8th Division, activated February 1, 1936, at Fort Belvoir in Virginia, and relieved September 16, 1939, from assignment to the 8th Division. Rodney was stationed at, and lived at, Fort Belvoir in Virginia with his wife and son. Rodney died in Alexandria, Virginia, and was on active duty at the time of his death on April 23, 1940. He was interred 3 days later on April 26, 1940, at the Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. After Rodney’s death in 1940, his wife Catherine remarried. Her second son, Seaman Charles Hilton Dellinger, died of wounds August 2, 1968, in the Vietnam War serving with Task Force 117, Task Group River Assault Squad 9, Ship T-92-8, US Navy.