More than 75 years after he disappeared during the Korean War, a soldier from New Mexico has been officially accounted for, providing his family with long-awaited answers.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said Tuesday that U.S. Army Sgt. Celestino Chavez of Gallup, New Mexico, has been identified.
Chavez enlisted in 1949 at age 17 and served with D Battery, 15th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion, 7th Infantry Division.
Before the fighting that would claim his life, Chavez sent his mother, Lupita Chavez, a letter dated Nov. 27, 1950. In it, he reportedly wrote, "If anything happens to me, please mother, no tears."
Three days later, Chavez was wounded while defending his position near the Chosin Reservoir, one of the fiercest battlegrounds of the Korean War.
The DPAA described the area, now in North Korea, as "the site of one of the most brutal battles between UN and Chinese Communist Forces" during the conflict.
According to the agency, roughly 30,000 U.N. troops and Marines fought about 120,000 enemy forces from late November through mid-December 1950. More than 1,000 Americans were killed and thousands more were wounded.
A statement tied to Chavez's posthumous Silver Star said he was "struck and seriously wounded" in combat but "refused to be evacuated … because there was no other man available to replace him."
The same account said, "He stayed at his post voluntarily and, despite his wound, kept the weapon firing" until the attack was repelled.
It added: "When the enemy attack had been broken up by the accurate and intense fire, Corporal Chavez, weakened by loss of blood, collapsed unconscious and fell from the M-19 gun carriage to the ground."
Chavez was later moved to an aid station, but he was reported missing in action on Dec. 2, 1950, when his convoy was "ambushed by opposing forces," the DPAA said. There is no record he was ever held as a prisoner of war.
He was declared presumed dead on Dec. 31, 1953.
For years, Chavez remained the only Gallup service member unaccounted for from the war. His name was inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
The DPAA said harsh weather and the U.N. withdrawal from Chosin prevented many immediate recoveries. In 2018, North Korea turned over 55 boxes believed to contain remains of American troops.
Using anthropological analysis, material evidence, and multiple forms of DNA and genome testing, the agency identified one set as Chavez's on April 15, 2025.
His remains were returned to New Mexico, where the National Guard Funeral Honors Team received his casket in Albuquerque. In a social media post, one Guard member said, "We're here to make sure he is received with dignity," adding, "It's an honorable duty."
Chavez was buried in Gallup with full military honors. He also received a Purple Heart and the Korean Service Medal with two Bronze Service Stars.
His name has now been removed from the Courts of the Missing.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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