Korean War soldier from Colorado identified after 74 years
(TRINIDAD, Colo.) — The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced on Wednesday, April 23, that a U.S. Army Sergeant from Colorado who was killed during the Korean War has been accounted for.
U.S. Army Sgt. Orace J. Mestas, 22, from Trinidad, was accounted for on Jan. 31, 2024. Mestas' family recently received their full briefing on his identification, and additional details about Mestas' life have now been released.
In 1951, Mestas was a member of Company I, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, and was reported missing in action near Chip'o-ri, North Korea, after his unit's position was attacked on April 25. According to DPAA, his remains could not be recovered due to intense fighting in the area, and on January 16, 1956, the U.S. Army determined him to be nonrecoverable.
From May to June 1951, members of the 565th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company located and recovered four sets of remains from FSC-472-F battle space. Mestas could not be positively identified from the four remains, and was interred at the United Nations' temporary military base cemetery in Tanggok and was later transported to CIU-Kokura for potential identification.
In 1955, remains Unknown X-1381 were reexamined but not identified. The remains were buried as unknown in the National Memorial Cemtery of the Pacific in Honolulu. In 2019, DPAA personnel disinterred Unknown X-1381 and sent the remains for analysis.
DPAA scientists used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as chest radiograph and other circumstantial evidence to identify Mestas. Scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis.
Mestas' name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are still missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Mestas will be buried in Trinidad in June 2025.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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