Obituary for Corporal John Seelie

Cpl. John Seelie passed away August 11, 2017, in Port Charlotte, Fla. He was a Cleveland native and the last known surviving veteran to witness the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Seelie was 18 when he enlisted in the Army at Fort Hayes in Columbus, according to a Facebook page maintained for him by a daughter. A member of the 25th Infantry Division's 65th Engineer Combat Battalion, he had just reported for guard duty at Schofield Barracks, near Honolulu, when Japanese planes began bombing the adjacent airstrip, Wheeler Field, on Dec. 7, 1941, during the larger attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the United States into World War II. Seelie landed on Guadalcanal with the 25th Division in August 1942, survived combat there and on New Georgia Island, and was discharged in June 1945 after a nearly fatal battle with malaria. He made several pilgrimages to Pearl Harbor, including a final journey for the 75th anniversary last year. He returned to Guadalcanal with a group of veterans in 1992 for the 50th anniversary of that battle, and traveled last May to a ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York, as the only known Pearl Harbor veteran to visit the site. Seelie gave numerous talks about his wartime experiences. An undefeated welterweight boxer in his youth at 160 pounds, Seelie was supposed to fight the night of the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was a lifelong fan of the Cleveland Browns and Cleveland Indians. His survivors include two daughters and two sons. His wife, Betty, died in 2008. Private family services will be held Sunday, September 24, 2017, at the Busch Funeral and Crematory Services Fairview Park facility, located at 21369 Center Ridge Rd,. Fairview Park, Ohio at 11 a.m. The Seelie family will take this time to remember John and his daughter, Lynda Seelie, who passed away recently. The funeral procession of John and Lynda will depart the funeral home at noon to Calvary Cemetery, 10000 Miles Road, Cleveland, Ohio. The funeral procession will be escorted by the Patriot Guard Riders, a volunteer organization that attends military burials. The community is asked to line the processional route. Military honors will be offered by the U.S. Army at the cemetery at 12:45 p.m.
The procession route will be as follow: Leaving Busch Funeral Home going east on Center Ridge Road to north on Wagar Road to east on Hilliard Boulevard to Interstate 90 east at Hilliard entrance to Interstate 490 east to south on East 55th Street to south/east on Broadway Avenue to east on Miles Avenue to the cemetery entrance.