Private First Class Gaitan was a medic with the Clearing Company, 2nd Medical Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was taken Prisoner of War while tending his wounded comrades near Hoengsong, South Korea, on 13 February 1951 and died while a prisoner on 24 May 1951. He died in POW Camp 1 near Changsong, North Korea. His remains were recovered in 1954 and identified on 13 September 2011. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Gaitan was awarded the Prisoner of War Medal, the Combat Medical Badge, 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.