2026年4月15日 / 美国东部时间上午10:03 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
美国军方官员周二表示，一名在朝鲜战争中阵亡的19岁新墨西哥州男子已被确认身份。
美国国防战俘/战斗人员失踪身份确认局（DPAA）在一份新闻稿中表示，美国陆军塞莱斯蒂诺·查韦斯中士于1949年入伍，当时他年仅17岁。查韦斯被分配到第7步兵师自动武器营第15防空炮兵连D炮台。
据DPAA分享的一篇剪报报道，查韦斯的母亲卢皮塔·查韦斯最后一次收到他的消息是在1950年11月27日，当时她收到了一封信，信中写道：“如果我出了什么事，妈妈，请不要流泪。”
三天后的1950年11月30日，查韦斯在朝鲜长津湖附近防守阵地时受伤。据DPAA介绍，这片如今属于朝鲜的区域是朝鲜战争期间“联合国军与中国人民志愿军之间最惨烈的战斗之一”发生地。该局表示，1950年11月底至12月中旬的几周内，约3万名联合国士兵和海军陆战队队员与12万敌军作战。据DPAA统计，超过1000名美国军人阵亡，数千人受伤。
美国陆军塞莱斯蒂诺·查韦斯中士。 美国国防战俘/战斗人员失踪身份确认局 供图
据查韦斯被追授银星勋章时附带的一份声明显示，查韦斯在进攻中“中弹受重伤”。但他“拒绝后送，因为没有其他士兵可以接替他的岗位”。
据DPAA分享的一篇剪报报道，声明中写道：“他自愿留在岗位上，尽管身负重伤，仍持续开火。当敌军的进攻被精准猛烈的火力击退时，下士查韦斯因失血过多虚弱不堪，昏迷倒地，从M-19型炮架上摔落到地面。”
DPAA表示，查韦斯最终被送往急救站。1950年12月2日，他所在的车队“遭遇敌军伏击”，他因此被列为战斗失踪人员。没有记录显示他曾被俘。1953年12月31日，他被宣告推定死亡。
据当地一篇新闻剪报报道，查韦斯是他的家乡新墨西哥州盖洛普市在这场冲突中唯一一名下落不明的士兵。他的名字被镌刻在太平洋国家纪念公墓的失踪人员纪念墙中。
DPAA表示，由于严寒天气以及联合国部队从长津湖撤退，数百名军人未能立即被找到。数十年来，人们一直在努力寻找并确认在该战场牺牲人员的身份。据DPAA统计，目前约有7500名朝鲜战争时期的美国军人下落不明。
美国海军陆战队士兵沿山路前进前往长津湖——朝鲜一处电力供应源。 贝特曼档案馆 供图
2018年，朝鲜移交了55箱据称装有朝鲜战争期间阵亡美国军人遗骸的箱子。DPAA一直在对这些遗骸进行研究，以进一步确认身份。
通过人类学分析、间接证据和物证，以及多种形式的DNA和基因组检测，DPAA成功将一组遗骸确认为查韦斯的遗体。确认工作于2025年4月15日完成，正好是一年前的今天。查韦斯的遗骸已被运往新墨西哥州。新墨西哥州国民警卫队葬礼荣誉队成员在阿尔伯克基迎接了他的灵柩。
据该团队在社交媒体上发布的帖子显示，一名国民警卫队成员表示：“我们来这里是为了让他体面地被迎接。这是一项光荣的职责。”
据DPAA介绍，查韦斯在其家乡举行了全套军事荣誉葬礼。除银星勋章外，他还被追授紫心勋章以及带有两枚铜质服役星章的朝鲜服役奖章。他的名字已从失踪人员纪念墙上移除。
DPAA表示，查韦斯的家人已收到关于其身份确认的完整情况通报，但未说明通报时间。据新闻剪报报道，除母亲外，查韦斯还有多名继兄弟姐妹在世。该机构未透露目前仍在世的家属具体是哪些人。
Remains of teen U.S. soldier who told his mother “no tears” identified 75 years after vanishing in Korea
April 15, 2026 / 10:03 AM EDT / CBS News
A 19-year-old New Mexico man killed in action during the Korean War has been accounted for, military officials said Tuesday.
U.S. Army Sgt. Celestino Chavez enlisted in the military in 1949, when he was 17 years old, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said in a news release. Chavez was assigned to D Battery, in the 15th Anti-Aircraft Artillery of the Automatic Weapons Battalion in the 7th Infantry Division.
Chavez’s mother, Lupita Chavez, said she last heard from him on Nov. 27, 1950, when she received a letter that said “If anything happens to me, please mother, no tears,” according to a news clipping shared by the DPAA.
Three days later, on Nov. 30, 1950, Chavez was wounded while defending his position near the Chosin Reservoir in Korea. The region, in present-day North Korea, was “the site of one one of the most brutal battles between UN and Chinese Communist Forces” during the war, according to the DPAA. About 30,000 United Nations soldiers and Marines fought against 120,000 enemy troops for several weeks between late November and mid-December 1950, the agency said. Over 1,000 U.S. service members were killed, and thousands more were wounded, according to the DPAA.
U.S. Army Sgt. Celestino Chavez. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Chavez was “struck and seriously wounded” during the attack, according to a statement that accompanied a Silver Star posthumous medal he was awarded. However, he “refused to be evacuated … because there was no other man available to replace him.”
“He stayed at his post voluntarily and, despite his wound, kept the weapon firing,” the statement read, according to a news clipping shared by the DPAA. “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 eventually evacuated to an aid station, the DPAA said. He was reported missing in action on December 2, when his convoy was “ambushed by opposing forces,” according to the agency. No records show he was a prisoner of war. He was declared presumed dead on Dec. 31, 1953.
Chavez was the only person from his hometown of Gallup, New Mexico to be unaccounted for in the conflict, according to a local news clipping. His name was memorialized in the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery in the Pacific.
The DPAA said that because of cold weather and the retreat of U.N. forces from the Chosin Reservoir, hundreds of servicemembers were unable to be immediately recovered. Over the decades, efforts have been made to recover and identify bodies of those who died at the site. About 7,500 U.S. troops are believed to be unaccounted for from the Korean War, according to the DPAA.
U.S. Marines travel a mountain road on their advance to the Chosin Reservoir, a source of electric power for North Korea. Bettmann
In 2018, North Korea turned over 55 boxes believed to contain the remains of American service members who died in the Korean War. The DPAA has been studying those remains to try and make further identifications.
Through anthropological analysis, circumstantial and material evidence, and multiple forms of DNA and genome testing, the DPAA was able to positively identify a set of remains as belonging to Chavez. The identification was made exactly one year ago on April 15, 2025. Chavez’s remains were transported to New Mexico. Members of the New Mexico National Guard Funeral Honors Team received his casket in Albuquerque.
“We’re here to make sure he is received with dignity,” a National Guard member said, according to a social media post by the team. “It’s an honorable duty.”
Chavez received a military burial with full honors in his hometown, according to the DPAA. In addition to the Silver Star, he was honored with a Purple Heart and the Korean Service Medal with two Bronze Service Stars, according to the National Guard. His name has been removed from the Courts of the Missing.
The DPAA said that Chavez’s family have received a full briefing on his identification, but did not specify when. In addition to his mother, Chavez was survived by multiple step-siblings, according to news clippings. The agency did not share which family members are still alive today.