Remains of teen U.S. soldier who told his mother "no tears" identified 75 years after vanishing in Korea
CBS News • • general
Key Points:
- U.S. Army Sgt. Celestino Chavez, a 19-year-old from New Mexico who was killed in action during the Korean War, has been positively identified by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) after being missing since 1950.
- Chavez was wounded defending his position near the Chosin Reservoir during one of the war's most brutal battles but refused evacuation, continuing to fight until he collapsed from blood loss.
- He was reported missing in action on December 2, 1950, and declared presumed dead in 1953, with his remains recently identified through DNA and other forensic testing from materials turned over by North Korea in 2018.
- Chavez's remains were returned to New Mexico and he received a military burial with full honors; his name has now been removed from the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery in the Pacific.
- Chavez was posthumously awarded the Silver Star, Purple Heart, and Korean Service Medal with two Bronze Service Stars, and his family has been fully briefed on his identification.
