Corporal Richard John Seadore comes home

19-year-old Richard John Seadore enlisted in the Army in 1949 with his 17-year-old brother, Johnny. After a bout with the measles, he finished basic training. Both were sent to Korea that year, according to the North Platte Bulletin. Find-a-grave tells the story of his capture by the Chinese;

In December 1950, Seadore was a member of Company D, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, when all units of the United Nations Command were moving south after units of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces (CPVF) staged mass attacks during their Second Phase Offensive. On Dec. 14, the Regiment sent out a reconnaissance patrol. While Seadore’s company did not participate in the patrol, they remained in defensive positions north of Uijong-bu, South Korea. The CPVF attacked and penetrated the company’s defensive line. As the unit prepared to move the following day, Seadore could not be located and was he was reported absent without leave (AWOL). His status was later amended to missing in action.

A fellow-POW who was familiar with Richard reported to the Army that he had been killed while he was a prisoner. Despite the eye witness account, the Army left him classified as missing in action.

According to the Bulletin, Seadore’s remains came in two boxes – one turned over by the North Koreans in 1992 and another discovered in a former POW camp in Suan County, North Korea where Richard had been held by the Chinese at the time of his death. Those remains were recovered by DPAA teams that had been allowed into North Korea.

The DPAA notified his family in April that they had identified his remains thanks to a DNA sample from his brother, Al. Hondo told us that DPAA had identified him back in May. The Bulletin reports that a service will be held on August 4th when Richard finally makes it home;

Al Seadore told Mike Wendorff of the Callaway Courier that even after 60 some years, he gets pretty emotional when he tells the story.

“I shared it in church Sunday and I called my two sons (and told them),” he said. “Yeah, after all these years, you wouldn’t think it would touch home like that.”

The Seadore family sacrificed two sons to the cause of freedom — Richard in Korea and Larry in Vietnam.

Although MIAs and POWs are sometimes forgotten, they are remembered always by their families, and in many cases, by their country.

Category: We Remember