The sister of the late labor leader Cesar Chaves says she could feel her brother's presence at a moving ceremony honoring his Navy service 22 years after his death.
Rita Chavez Martin was one of several hundred gathered at his graveside for a ceremony bestowing honors from the U.S. Navy. Relatives said that at his death nobody thought about his military service. They focused instead on his work with farmworkers.
Chavez Martin says she wrote a letter to her brother every day of his service in the Pacific.
She says he wrote back about discrimination he endured, as well as good times.
Associate Marc Grossman says that Navy service convinced the civil rights leader that he couldn't accept the discrimination back home.
The ceremony honored Chavez with a 21-gun salute and taps.
© Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.