There’s closure for the household of a younger Korean Battle soldier who went lacking in motion some 75 years in the past. The stays of U.S. Army Sgt. Celestino Chavez, simply 19 years outdated on the time, was returned to his household and buried with full navy honors in his hometown of Gallup, New Mexico, on Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
“Chavez’s household just lately obtained their full briefing on his identification,” learn a press release from the united statesDefense POW/MIA Accounting Company (DPMAA), and obtained by Navy.com. “Subsequently, extra particulars on his identification may be shared.”
The story of Chavez’s loss dates again to 1950. Newspaper clippings shared by the DPMAA and launched to Navy.com, quotes the 19-year-old’s mom, Lupita Chavez, as saying she final heard from her son on November 27, 1950, when she obtained a letter wherein he advised her: “If something occurs to me, please mom, no tears.”
Assigned to the fifteenth Anti-Plane Artillery, Computerized Weapons Battalion, seventh Infantry Division, the assertion from the DPMAA says Chavez was wounded whereas defending his place within the Democratic Folks’s Republic of Korea. He was evacuated to an assist station on November 30, 1950, and reported lacking in motion on December 2, after his convoy was ambushed by opposing forces.
“The U.S. Army didn’t obtain any indication that he was ever held as a prisoner of warfare and with no proof of his continued survival, issued a presumptive discovering of loss of life on December 31, 1953,” learn the assertion. “He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for persevering with to man his place regardless of his wounds through the November 30 assault.”
Stays Amongst Dozens Given to U.S. in 2018
In July 2018, following a summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean Supreme Chief Kim Jong-un, North Korea turned over 55 packing containers containing the stays of American service members killed through the Korean Battle.
DPAA scientists used a mixture of anthropology, in addition to circumstantial and materials proof, to establish Chavez’s stays. Moreover, scientists from the Armed
On a Fb web page reviewed by Navy.com, Chavez’s surviving nephew Ben Baca, supplied extra particulars of his uncle’s destiny within the warfare throughout heavy combating.
“Roadblocks and fixed enemy hearth made the withdrawal extraordinarily harmful,” Baca wrote on Fb. “Chavez was manning his gun automobile and interesting the enemy when he was killed in motion. The next morning, his physique was positioned at a primary assist station, however through the withdrawal on December 1, his stays needed to be left behind and weren’t recovered.”
Chavez was positively recognized in April of 2025. One yr later, on April 15, 2026, he was buried in Gallup, NM.
“Celestino Chavez is my mom’s little brother,” wrote Baca in his Fb publish. “He is residence now, after 76 years MIA.”
Federal Company Tracks POW/MIA Troopers
The Protection POW/MIA Accounting Company prides itself on “fulfilling our nation’s promise” to by no means depart a soldier behind.
“A world-class workforce fulfills our nation’s obligation by maximizing the variety of lacking personnel accounted for whereas guaranteeing well timed, correct data is offered to their households,” reads the company’s mission assertion, shared with Navy.com. “We offer the fullest attainable accounting for our lacking personnel to their households and the nation.”
In keeping with the DPMAA, Chavez is memorialized on the Courts of the Lacking on the Nationwide Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His title can be inscribed on the Korean Battle Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., which was up to date in 2022 to incorporate the names of the fallen.
Since 1982, the stays of greater than 450 Individuals killed within the Korean Battle have been recognized and returned to their households for burial with full navy honors. That’s along with the roughly 2,000 Individuals whose stays have been recognized within the years following the tip of hostilities, when the North Korean authorities returned over 3,000 units of stays to U.S. custody.
