Galesburg soldier declared missing in Korean War 75 years ago accounted for

An Army corporal from Galesburg missing for 75 years during the Korean War has been accounted for.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) said in a news release that U.S. Army Cpl. Paul Eugene Hoots, 25, of Galesburg, who was killed during the Korean War, was accounted for in November 2024. His family has recently received a full briefing on his identification, so more details on his identification can be shared.

Paul Hoots (DPAA)

Hoots was assigned to K Company, 3rd Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division in July 1950. He went missing in action after his unit engaged the North Korean People’s Army in the area of Ch’onan, South Korea, on July 7. At the time, the circumstances surrounding his loss were not immediately recorded and there was no evidence that he was a prisoner of war. His unit reported him missing in action on July 8, 1950.

Remains were recovered by the American Graves Registration Service Group (AGRSG) near Suwon in October 1950. The remains could not be connected to an unaccounted-for soldier, so they were designated Unknown X-16 Taejon and interred at the temporary United Nations Military Cemetery Taejon.

The AGRSG searched the battlefield where Hoots was lost in 1952 but could not find remains that could be identified as his. The U.S. Army issued a presumptive finding on December 31, 1953.

All identification efforts were moved to Kokura, Japan in December 1950. Since Unknown X-16 Taejon could not be connected with a Korean War loss, the remains were transferred to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu on February 8, 1956.

The DPAA proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War Unknowns from the Punchbowl in July 2018. On June 10, 2019, DPAA disinterred Unknown X-16 Taejon as part of Phase Two of the Korean War Disinterment Project and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory for analysis. Scientists used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as chest radiograph comparison and circumstantial evidence to identify Unknown X-16 Taejon as Hoots. Scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis to confirm his identity.

Hoots’ name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with others who are still missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to show he has been located. He will be buried in Galesburg’s Linwood Cemetery on July 24.

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