Emil Kapaun

Early life

Emil Joseph Kapaun was born on April 20, 1916, and grew up on a farm three miles southwest of Pilsen, Kansas on rural 260th Street of Marion County. His parents were Enos and Elizabeth Kapaun, Czech immigrants. He graduated from Pilsen High School in May 1930. Kapaun also graduated from Conception Abbey seminary college (College of New Engleberg; Conception Seminary College) in Conception, Missouri, in June 1936 and Kenrick Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1940. In 1947, he attended Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C..

Priesthood

On June 9, 1940, Kapaun was ordained a Catholic priest at what is now Newman University in Wichita, Kansas. He celebrated his first Mass at St. John Nepomucene Catholic Church in Pilsen, Kansas. In January 1943, Kapaun was appointed auxiliary chaplain at the Herington Army Airfield near Herington, Kansas. In December 1943, Kapaun was appointed pastor to replace Fr. Sklenar who had retired. He served in the Pilsen area under the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wichita

U.S. Army service

Kapaun entered the U.S. Army Chaplain School at Ft. Devens, Massachusetts in August 1944, and after graduating in October began his military chaplaincy at Camp Wheeler, Georgia. He and one other chaplain ministered to approximately 19,000 service men and women. He was sent to India and served in the Burma Theater from April 1945 to May 1946. He ministered to U.S. soldiers and local missions covering a 2,000 mile territory by jeep. He was promoted to captain in January 1946

He was released from active duty in July 1946. Under the G.I. Bill, he earned a Master of Arts degree in Education at the Catholic University of America in February 1948. In September 1948, he returned to active duty in the U.S. Army and resumed his chaplaincy at Fort Bliss near El Paso, Texas. In December 1949, Kapaun left his parents and Pilsen for the last time, bound for Japan.

In January 1950, he was stationed near Mount Fuji, Japan. He became a chaplain in the 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On July 15, 1950, the 1st Cavalry Division and Kapaun embarked and left Tokyo Bay sailing for Korea, less than a month after North Korea had invaded South Korea.

The 1st Cavalry Division made the first amphibious landing in the Korean War on July 18, 1950. In late August, Kapaun was assigned to duty as Chaplain of the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment. He soon participated in the fighting on the Pusan perimeter in South Korea. From there, since mid September, Kapaun and the division were constantly on the move northward. On October 9, the division crossed the 38th parallel into North Korea and advanced within 50 miles of the Chinese border. His main complaint was lack of sleep for several weeks at a time. He constantly ministered to the dead and dying while performing baptisms, hearing confessions, offering Holy Communion and celebrating Mass from an improvised altar set up on the front end of a jeep. He constantly would lose his Mass kit, jeep, and trailer to enemy fire. He told how he was thoroughly convinced that the prayers of many others were what had saved him so many times.

He was captured and taken prisoner by Chinese soldiers during the Battle of Unsan near Unsan, North Korea, on November 2, 1950. He and other members of the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment taken prisoner were marched 87 miles (140 km) to a temporary prison camp at Sombakol near the permanent camp (Prison Camp 5) at Pyoktong, North Korea where they were later held. Kapaun was able to persuade some prisoners, who had ignored orders from officers, to carry the wounded. At the camps, he dug latrines, mediated disputes, gave away his own food, and raised morale among the prisoners. He was noted among his fellow POWs as one who would steal coffee and tea (and a pot to heat them in) from the Communist guards. He also led fellow prisoners in acts of defiance and smuggled dysentery drugs to the doctor, Sidney Esensten. He was posthumously awarded the Legion of Merit by the U.S. Army for exceptionally meritorious conduct as a prisoner of war.

Kapaun developed a blood clot in one of his legs besides having dysentery and pneumonia. Weakened as the months passed, he managed to lead Easter sunrise service on Sunday, March 25, 1951. He was so weak that the prison guards took him to a place in the Pyoktong camp they called the "hospital", which was really a place where he was left alone without any help and left to die ... of malnutrition and pneumonia on May 23, 1951. He was one of twelve chaplains to die in Korea. Four U.S. Army chaplains were taken prisoner in 1950, all died while in captivity.

Kapaun was buried in a mass grave near the Yalu River. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.

Kapaun's Distinguished Service Cross was upgraded by the U.S. Army to the Medal of Honor. He was awarded the Legion of Honor for his actions as a POW. Kapaun was awarded the following U.S and foreign military awards:

Bronze Star Medal

Kapaun was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with "V" Device on September 2, 1950 for his actions on August 2, 1950:

AWARD OF THE BRONZE STAR MEDAL – By direction of the President under the provisions of Executive Order 9419, and pursuant to the authority contained in AR-600-45, the Bronze Star Medal with "V" Device for heroic achievement in connection with military operations against an enemy of the United States is awarded the following named officer:

CHAPLAIN (CAPTAIN) EMIL J. KAPAUN 0558217, CHAPLAIN CORPS, UNITED STATES ARMY, a member of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Regiment, displayed heroism in action against the enemy near Kumchung, Korea on August 2, 1950. Chaplain KAPAUN received information that there was a wounded man in an exposed position on the left flank of the first battalion that could not be removed as there were no litter bearers available. Chaplain KAPAUN together with another officer, immediately proceeded to the front lines where he contacted the Battalion Commander in order to obtain the approximate location of the wounded man. With total disregard for personal safety, Chaplain KAPAUN and his companion went after the wounded man. The entire route to the wounded soldier was under intense enemy machinegun and small arms fire. However, Chaplain KAPAUN successfully evacuated the soldier, thereby saving the soldier. This heroic action on the part of Chaplain KAPAUN reflects great credit on himself and the military.

Distinguished Service Cross

On August 18, 1951, he was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary action on November 1–2, 1950.

Medal of Honor

In 2001, U.S. Representative Todd Tiahrt began a campaign to award the Medal of Honor to Kapaun. Before leaving office on September 16, 2009, Secretary of the Army Pete Geren sent Tiahrt a letter, agreeing that Kapaun was worthy of the honor. Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also agreed.

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (Senate Bill 1867, Section 586) contains an authorization and a request to the President to award the Medal of Honor to Kapaun posthumously for acts of valor during the Battle of Unsan on November 1–2, 1950, and while a prisoner of war until his death on May 23, 1951. President Obama presented the medal awarded on behalf of Kapaun to Kapaun's nephew at the White House on April 11, 2013.

His Medal of Honor citation reads:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, March 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of Congress the MEDAL OF HONOR to

for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty:

Possible canonization

The following is a general narrative from the many reports of Kapaun's ordeal as a prisoner of war given by many repatriated American soldiers after their release from prison camps. He was most remembered for his great humility, bravery, his constancy, his love and kindness and solicitude for his fellow prisoners. "He was their hero... their admired and beloved "padre." He kept up the G.I.'s morale, and most of all, allowed a lot of men to become good Catholics."

Reports received noted that Kapaun's feet had become badly frozen, but that he continued to administer to the sick and wounded. He continuously went out under heavy mortar and shelling to rescue wounded and dying soldiers at personal risk of being captured or killed.

Many accounts have been given of the many creature comforts he provided his comrades of the 8th Cavalry Regiment during imprisonment. They were both spiritual and physical. He provided endless hours of prayer and what nourishment he could find to all he could to keep them from starving to death.

A detailed account of Kapaun's life is recounted in Fr. Arthur Tonne's Chaplain Kapaun: Patriot Priest of the Korean Conflict:

In a very definite sense, we are all beneficiaries from the life of Fr. Kapaun. He has left us a stirring example of devotion to duty. He has passed on to us a spirit of tolerance and understanding. He has given us a share of dauntless bravery – of body and soul. He has transmitted to every one of us a new appreciation of America, and a keener, more realistic understanding of our country's greatest enemy – godlessness, now stalking the world in the form of communism. He has bequeathed a picture of Christ-like life. What Fr. Kapaun willed to us cannot be contained in memorials, however costly or beautiful. It is a treasure for the human soul – the spirit of one who loved and served God and man – even unto death.

When Kapaun was assigned to the 8th Cavalry Regiment, which was surrounded and overrun by the Chinese army in North Korea in October and November 1950, he stayed behind with the wounded when the Army retreated. He allowed his own capture, then risked death by preventing Chinese executions of wounded Americans too injured to walk. Following his death, as Kapaun's actions became known, Catholic faithful began to offer devotional prayers to him; these prayers came from U.S. servicemembers, as well as those in East and Southeast Asia.

In 1993, Kapaun was named a Servant of God by Pope John Paul II, the Vatican's first step toward possible canonization. Also, the Vatican is now examining whether a medical healing that took place in Sedgwick County, Kansas, can be considered a miracle.

On November 9, 2015, the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wichita in Wichita, Kansas, His Excellency, the Most Reverend Bishop Carl A. Kemme, presented the positio, a 1,066-page-long report on his life, ministry, virtues, holiness, and other aspects, that must be compiled by the sponsoring diocese, approved by the Bishop, and sent to Rome for review, to the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in the Roman Curia at the Vatican, His Eminence, Angelo Cardinal Amato. If the Congregation and the Pope approve this report, he will be given the title Servant of God. Then, if they determine that he lived a life of virtue, he can also be called Venerable. If a declaration of martyrdom is then granted by the Pope, or the Pope approves a miracle posthumously attributed to Father Kapaun, he can be beatified.

A team of six historians gathered on June 21, 2016 and voiced their approval to the cause.

Possible 2006 miracle

In 2006, Avery Gerlman, who had an auto-immune disorder, entered into an eighty-seven day coma due after multiple organs were damaged. Her parents and others prayed to Kapaun, and she recovered. Scans of her damaged organs were taken later, showing no signs of scarring. Avery went on to become physically active, earned her license to become a licensed practical nurse at Wichita Area Technical College, and plans on becoming a registered nurse.

Possible 2008 miracle

On June 29, 2008, the opening ceremony which officially opens the cause for sainthood for Kapaun was made on Father Kapaun Day held at St. John Nepomucene Catholic Church in Pilsen, Kansas.

On June 26, 2009, Dr. Andrea Ambrosi, the Roman Postulator for Kapaun's cause for canonization arrived in Wichita in order to interview doctors in relation to alleged miraculous events.

Among these is the claim of 20-year-old Chase Kear, who survived a severe head injury last year in part, he and his family claim, because they petitioned Fr. Emil Kapaun to intercede for them. Kear, a member of the Hutchinson Community College track team, fell on his head during pole vaulting practice in October 2008, but, it is said, was miraculously healed despite being near death. The Rev. John Hotze, the judicial vicar for the Diocese of Wichita, and trained in canon law, will assist in investigating Kear's case.

Hotze has spent eight years investigating the proposed sainthood of Kapaun. The Catholic Church has considered canonizing Kapaun ever since soldiers were liberated from Korean prisoner-of-war camps in 1953 and told of Kapaun's heroism and faith. The Wichita diocese has continued to receive reports of miracles involving Kapaun. He is being considered for possible designation as a martyr.

Possible 2011 miracle

On May 7, 2011, Nick Dellasega collapsed at a Get Busy Living 5K race in Pittsburg, Kansas (honoring the memory of Dylan Meier). Due to a series of coincidences, Dellasega survived, even though he had seemingly died on the scene. His childhood friend, EMT Micah Ehling, is quoted by The Wichita Eagle as saying "I know what a face looks like when the soul leaves the body. And that's what Nick looked like". Some bystanders attribute Dellasega's survival to the devotion of his cousin, Jonah Dellasega, who fell to his knees at the scene and prayed to Kapaun. In a strange coincidence not reported by The Eagle, Dylan Meier, in whose memory the 5K was being held, was slated to teach English in Korea at the time of his death.

Skeptics point out that Kapaun's spirit could not possibly have orchestrated the bizarre coincidences that saved Nick's life because some of them were set in motion long before Nick collapsed (including a visit by Nick's uncle, Mark, a medical doctor from Greenville, North Carolina). Divine Providence, however, can be said to have set in motion all the events before they happened, including the visit by the uncle, Mark, and the prayers to Father Kapaun; so it's easy for believers to insist Kapaun intervened to save Dellasega's life. The Eagle reported, "The coincidences are strange enough and the prayer notable enough that a Catholic Church investigator has reported Nick's story to the Vatican, which happens to have a representative in Wichita again, sizing up Father Emil Kapaun for sainthood."

Memorials

Knights of Columbus

TV portrayal

He was played by James Whitmore in the Crossroads TV episode "The Good Thief", which aired on November 25, 1955.