Staff Reports
Over 75 years after he was lost in the Korean War, U.S. Army Sgt. Celestino Chavez Jr. was laid to rest April 15 with full military honors in Gallup, surrounded by family, senior military leaders, and state officials honoring his service and sacrifice.
Chavez enlisted in the U.S. Army on Jan. 10, 1949, and served with Battery D., 15th-Anti-Aircraft Artillery, Automatic Weapons Battalion, 7th Infantry Division.
His burial ended a decades-long saga that began with him being wounded while defending his post near the Changjin (Chosin) Reservoir in North Korea and then being taken to an aid station on Nov. 30, 1950. Chavez, 19, was then reported missing in action three days later, when enemy fighters attacked his convoy.
As the army neither received information indicating that he was held as a prisoner of war nor evidence of his survival, officials issued a “presumptive finding of death” on Dec. 31, 1950.
Chavez’s sacrifice and service were recognized with numerous awards, including the Silver Star, Purple Heart, and the Korean Service Medal with two Bronze Service Stars.
But it wasn’t until 2018 that a process began that culminated in Chavez’s return home.
That year, Donald Trump – then in his first term as president – met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. And one month after that summit, North Korea sent the U.S. more than 55 boxes “purported to contain the remains of American service members killed during the Korean War,”the DPAA said.
After the remains’ arrival at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, the DPAA started working to identify them. DPAA scientists used “anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence” in efforts to identify the remains, and investigators from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System employed various DNA analyses.
The DPAA deemed Chavez as accounted for on April 15, 2025.
A year later, he was buried back home in Gallup.
Rollie Mortuary had the honor of helping bring Chavez home. Diane McDargh, a funeral service intern with the mortuary, spoke about what a privilege it was to bring Chavez to his final resting place.
“It is definitely an honor to serve one of our own who has given their life in the line of duty,” she said.
Dave Cuellar, head of Gallup’s Veterans Helping Veterans, also spoke about Chavez’s homecoming.
“It’s great that he was able to be identified because it gives closure to the family,” he said.
