Sergeant Desautels was a member of Company A, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was taken Prisoner of War while fighting the enemy near Kunu-ri, North Korea on 1 December 1950. He died on 29 April 1953 as a prisoner and buried near Mukden, China. His remains have not been recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Desautels was awarded the Purple Heart, the Prisoner of War Medal, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.