Keagle, Richard Albert
Army Sergeant

Richard Albert Keagle, age 19, from Joliet, Illinois, Will county.

Parents: George Keagle

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Thursday, November 2, 1950
Death details: During the last week of October 1950, Republic of Korea (ROK) Army forces under the control of the U.S. Eighth Army were advancing deep in North Korean territory, approaching the Yalu River on the Chinese-Korean border. Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) struck back in a surprise attack, engaging the ROK 1st and 6th Divisions near Unsan, some sixty miles north of Pyongyang. The U.S. 1st Cavalry Division, with the 8th Cavalry Regiment in the lead, was rushed forward to reinforce the ROK units in the Unsan area. On November 1, the regiment’s 1st Battalion took up positions north of Unsan, while the 2nd Battalion moved to guard the Nammyon River valley west of town, and the 3rd Battalion was placed in reserve at the valley’s southern end. Sergeant First Class Richard Albert Keagle joined the U.S. Army from Illinois and was a member of Battery C of the 99th Field Artillery Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 2, 1950, while supporting elements of the 8th Cavalry Regiment near Unsan, Battery C received orders to join with elements of the 3rd Battalion at its Command Post at Ipsok. The Command Post became surrounded as the unit attempted to act on its orders and it was either while attempting to make it to Ipsok on foot or, if he made it to Ipsok, while trapped behind the lines at the 3rd Battalion’s Command Post, when SFC Keagle went missing. He was not reported as a prisoner of war and his remains have not been identified among any returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Sergeant First Class Keagle is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Chicago Tribune 1950)