Army Cpl. Seloover, killed in Korean War, accounted for

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced recently that U.S. Army Corporal Richard Seloover, 17, of Whiteside, Illinois, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for on Jan. 10, 2024.

In Sept. 1950, Seloover was a member of Heavy Mortar Company, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He went missing in action after his unit engaged in combat actions with the enemy along the Naktong River in the vicinity of Yongsan, South Korea, on Sept. 6, 1950.

On Dec. 29, 1950, Unknown Remains X-348 was recovered from an isolated grave near the village of Bon-Po, roughly 5 miles from where Cpl Seloover was reported lost. The remains could not be identified as Seloover at the time, and the remains were subsequently buried as an unknown in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

In June 2021, DPAA personnel disinterred Unknown X-348 and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.

To identify Seloover’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as chest radiograph and other circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.

Cpl Seloover’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are still missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Cpl Seloover will be buried in Rock Falls, Illinois, on a date to be determined.