Remains of Korean War Soldier to be buried in Wolf, Oklahoma

Terré Gables/KFOR
·2 min read
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FORT KNOX, Ky. (KFOR) – The remains of Army Cpl. R.V. Leo Short, a soldier killed during the Korean War, will be laid to rest, according to U.S. Army Human Resources Command in Fort Knox, Kentucky.

The remains of Cpl. Short will be interred December 9 at Wolf Cemetery in Seminole County, Oklahoma. Swearingen Funeral Home in Seminole, Oklahoma, will perform graveside services preceding the interment.

A native of Seminole, Oklahoma, Short was a member of George Company, 2nd Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, Eighth U.S. Army. He went missing in action in November 1950, at age 19, after his unit was forced to retreat from Kunu-ri in the vicinity of Unbong-dong, North Korea. Several POWs who returned in 1953, during Operation Big Switch, reported that Short died a prisoner of war in March, 1951 at POW Camp No. 5.

In September 2019, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency disinterred a set of remains, designated Unknown X-14743, from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific – also known as the Punchbowl – in Honolulu, Hawaii, for laboratory analysis. X-14743 was among remains returned by North Korea during Operation Glory in fall of 1954.

Short was accounted for by the DPAA on June 22, 2023, after his remains were identified using chest radiograph comparison and circumstantial evidence as well as dental, anthropological and mitochondrial DNA analysis.  His name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with others still missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

More than 7,500 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Korean War, says U.S. Army Human Resources Command.

For additional information about Cpl. Short, click here.

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