West Virginia Soldier's Remains Found 74 Years After Korean War Disappearance

The remains of U.S. Army Cpl. Ray K. Lilly, 18, of Matoaka, West Virginia, who went missing while fighting in the Korean War have been found, more than seven decades after he was reported missing, announced the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) on Friday.

Disappearance and Discovery

Cpl. Lilly went missing on November 2, 1950, while his unit, L Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, was engaged in combat in Unsan, North Korea. Although several prisoners of war reported seeing Corporal Lilly at prisoner of war camp #5, his whereabouts could not be determined at the time.

It was in 1953 when North Korea handed over the remains of service members to the United States, and among those returned was an unknown set of remains designated as "Unknown X-14682." These remains were laid to rest in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

Identification Process

In 2018, the DPAA revealed a plan to disinter the remains of 652 unidentified service members from the Korean War, and a year later, the unknown remains of "Unknown X-14682" were sent to the lab for testing. Through thorough examination, including dental records, anthropological analysis, mitochondrial DNA analysis, and circumstantial evidence, investigators were able to confirm in September of the previous year that the unidentified remains belonged to Corporal Lilly.

Reunion and Final Resting Place

Lilly had passed away sometime between 1950 and 1951 while in captivity at a Korean prisoner of war camp, according to the DPAA. His family has been notified of the discovery, and arrangements have been made for his burial in Princeton, West Virginia.

Additional Identifications

It is worth noting that this discovery comes alongside the identification of the remains of World War II airmen from Chicago and Michigan, eight decades after their reported disappearance. Since the beginning of 2024, the DPAA has successfully identified the remains of 29 World War II veterans, 5 Korean War veterans, and one Vietnam War veteran.