The grave of Sgt. David Daniel PACHECO at the American War Cemetery Margraten, Netherlands now has a face to go with it thanks to a recent inquiry to the museum. His picture is in the 1936 Le Resume, the yearbook of Salida High School, which is part of the museum collection.
Pacheco’s name with gold star for killed-in-action is also on the Chaffee County Honor Roll Board in downtown Salida, which was uncovered and repainted in 2016.
As part of this year’s (2020) observance of the 75th anniversary of the end of the war, volunteers have been collecting personal information about soldiers buried overseas. In January (2020) one of the volunteers researched David Pacheco’s genealogy, learned he graduated Salida High in 1936 and emailed Salida museum in hopes of finding his picture.
She told us each of the more than 8,000 graves at Margraten have local adopters who have been tending the sites since the end of the war. Their responsibility is to serve as family, to visit and bring flowers, and not to forget out of gratitude men they never knew. These adopters have been placing pictures next to the cemetery markers in a project called Faces of Margraten 2018.
Sgt. David Pacheco was serving with the 107th Field Artillery Battalion, 28th Infantry Division when he was killed in action Nov. 30, 1944 in Germany. He joined the army in 1940. He was born Feb. 7, 1918 in Saguache to Joseph N. Pacheco and Geronima S. Pacheco. Brother Abel N. and sisters Mary E., Louise and Elizabeth are also listed in the cemetery database, presumably recently updated by our museum correspondent.
Well done.
There are at least 4 other WWII soldiers from Chaffee County buried in Europe. The Fields of Honor Foundation used the Honor Roll wall photo for all these men on their online memorial page.
Lawrence Brucker – Salida
Eugene Darling
Tony Martinez – Salida
Frank Powell – Buena Vista
Teresa
Fields of Honor Foundation – Netherlands