Pavek enlisted in February 1942 and completed his basic training at Camp Lee, Virginia, a quartermaster replacement training center. The training center was responsible for preparing soldiers for key support specializations such as supply, fuel, food, mortuary affairs, and laundry services. Camp Lee trained more than 300,000 officers and enlisted soldiers for service in both the European and Pacific theaters during World War II.

While serving in Belgium, Pavek got a taste of home when he ran into fellow La Crosse native Arthur Serres, who took the above photograph of Pavek in April 1945. Serres wrote home to his parents, "Today I had a surprise. While eating chow, who should walk past but Charles Pavek. He almost fell over when he saw me."

After his service, Pavek returned to La Crosse and worked as the vice president of the family business, J. J. Leinfelder & Sons Structural Steel, until his retirement in 1964. Like his father, Pavek was a well-known musician and enjoyed playing the piano. In 1985, Pavek moved to Madison, where he spent the rest of his life.