Memoral Day - Cemetery Talk - Fr. Emil Kapaun

 

I would first like to thank those who are here and who currently serve in the armed forces and all our veterans. Thank you for your willingness to sacrifice yourself for our country. And we ask God to bless you for that.

My nephew, Army Staff Sargent Christopher Woods, received the purple medal as a result of being wounded in Afghanistan. He is currently stationed at Fort Riley.

I also have two other nephews who served in the military, a grandfather, several uncles and cousins, who also served in the military.

Today, we honor the brave women and men who proudly wore the uniform of our armed forces and made the ultimate sacrifices that have become the lifeblood of our republic. We should keep in mind not only the sacrifice of the men and women who gave their lives in service to the country, but also Christ’s sacrifice, which is at the heart of the faith of Christians. Our Lord said, “There is no greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

The Cross of Jesus points to sacrificial love because on the Cross, He laid down His life to free us from sin. The sacrifices made by our countrymen and women throughout American history are a reminder of Christ’s sacrifice. Memorial Day can help inspire us to the greatest thing of which we are capable, by God’s grace: sacrificial love. Love that sacrifices for the beloved is divine and the only true love. The cost of freedom has been blood. The blood of Jesus shed for the freedom of sins. The blood of soldiers shed that we may live in freedom in our nation.

Did you know there are 28 Kansans who have been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor? Today, I would like to speak about the last Kansan, who was awarded the medal.

In 2013, 10 yrs ago, a fellow Kansan was awarded the highest military honor called the Congressional Medal of Honor. The following is from the US Department of Defense website. The website states: On April 11, 2013, after 60 years of ceaseless advocating by his fellow soldiers and prisoners of war, Chaplain Emil Kapaun was awarded our nation’s highest award for valor for his actions at the Battle of Unsan, North Korea, Nov 1-2, 1950. Chaplain Kapaun is one of 5 chaplains, in the entire US, since the Civil War- to be awarded the Medal of Honor.

The Medal is very rare, with less than 0.01% of combat troops receiving the award. It is awarded only for the most courageous and often sacrificial acts while engaged in battle. More than just a recognition of a moment in time, the Medal represents core values that make its bearers and our nation unique: courage, sacrifice, patriotism, and more. By law, only U.S. service members who distinguish themselves “through conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty” can receive the medal.

Army Chaplain Emil Kapaun inspired his men during the Korean War with calm, courageous leadership, instilling in his fellow prisoners of war a desire to stay strong — even after he no longer could. His actions eventually earned him the nation's highest military honor, as well as a potential path to sainthood.

Kapaun was born April 20, 1916, in rural Pilsen, Kansas. After being ordained a priest, Kapaun was serving as an auxiliary chaplain at Herington Air Base, in 1944 when he noticed the need for faith-based leaders in the military. He felt compelled to join, so, on July 12, 1944, he became an Army chaplain, serving for the rest of World War II in the China-Burma-India theater. When the war in Korea broke out, he was deployed in July 1950 with the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. 

By the fall of 1950, Kapaun's battalion had pushed depleted North Korean soldiers back to Unsan. It was assumed the war would soon be over since things were looking good for the U.S. and its South Korean allies. But on Nov. 1, 1950, the tide turned when Chinese Communists joined North Korean forces and launched a vicious attack. 

During the fight, Kapaun calmly walked through the battle zone, offering comfort and medical aid to the injured and helping to pull men out of an area. The Americans were able to repel the assault initially, but by nighttime, they were surrounded and forced to find safety in foxholes and behind bunkers. By midnight, the battalion was ordered to evacuate before the Chinese blocked all escape routes. 

The following day, the US forces were overwhelmed by enemy Chinese Communist troops. During the retreat, Fr. Kapaun continually ran back directly into enemy fire, to drag wounded soldiers to safety. In the midst of the heavy hand-to-hand combat, he assembled 30 wounded soldiers in a dugout. In the midst of flying bullets, his corncob pipe was shot by enemy gunfire.

By the end of the day, he saved 15 men. He and another soldier also retrieved the dead bodies of more than 100 soldiers. After the Chinese rushed the American line six times, the US soldiers ran out of ammunition, and resorted to throwing rocks at the enemy. The soldiers yelled at Fr. Kapaun, telling him to run, but he refused. When the Chinese entered the dugout, they found Fr. Kapaun administering the last rites to a dying soldier.

As Kapaun was led away, he saw a Chinese soldier preparing to shoot a wounded American soldier, Sgt. 1st Class Herbert A. Miller. Without concern for himself, Kapaun pushed that enemy soldier aside, picked up Miller and started to carry him away. Stunned, the enemy soldier allowed it. Kapaun ended up carrying Miller for miles as they incessantly marched toward the unknown. The chaplain helped others who struggled, begging them to not give up so they wouldn't be shot. 

After being marched from village to village with little food or water, Kapaun and his men ended up at a POW camp in Pyoktong on the bank of the Yalu River.

While in captivity, Kapaun remained a trusted leader. His courage inspired prisoners of all faiths to survive the camp’s hellish conditions and the frigid temperatures, resist enemy indoctrination, and keep hope alive. He helped the wounded and often sneaked out at night to steal food for the prisoners. 

"He was the best food thief we had," said Army Capt. Joseph O'Connor, a fellow POW. Once, he came back with a sack of potatoes. How he got it I'll never know — it must have weighed 100 pounds."

Fr. Kapaun prayed with people of all faith and daily read bible passages to them. He encouraged them telling them to not give up, but that they would eventually go home. He became a witness for Christ.

When the Communists attempted to indoctrinate the American Soldiers with false ideas, Chaplain Kapaun, counteracted their ideas in such a way, which humiliated and infuriated them, so much so, they hated him.

By spring, however, the camp's squalid conditions and inhumane punishments had taken their toll. Kapaun grew seriously ill and malnourished, but he managed to hold one last Easter Mass for the prisoners in late March. Shortly after that, he was transferred to an old pagoda that the Chinese called a hospital. It was unheated and filthy, and it was reported that its prisoners weren’t given food or medical attention. Kapaun died there on May 23, 1951. He was 35 yrs. old. 

At the end of his life, when the Chinese cut off all medical care, and deprived him of all food, he was heard whispering the Gospel passage, “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.”

In August 1951, Kapaun was honored with the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation's second highest medal for valor, while he was still listed as missing in action. Officials learned of his death when his fellow POWs were released after the armistice was signed in 1953. 

For decades, Kapaun's comrades lobbied Congress to get his Distinguished Service Cross upgraded to the Medal of Honor. On April 11, 2013, that request was granted. President Barack Obama lauded the chaplain's service during a While House ceremony. "[Kapaun was] an American soldier who didn't fire a gun but who wielded the mightiest weapon of all — the love for his brothers — so pure that he was willing to die so they might live..”

"After 70 years, Chaplain (Capt.) Kapaun has been accounted for," acting Army Secretary John E. Whitley said in March, 2021 in a news release. He had previously been buried with a group of 866 other “unknowns” at the National Memorial Cemetery in Honolulu due to an armistice agreement whereby the remains of the soldiers could be returned to the US. Officials told Ray Kapaun that his uncle's remains, along with those of several other soldiers, were returned to the U.S. shortly after the end of the war and buried at the National Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii. They were only recently identified using dental records and DNA. He has since been buried in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Wichita and people can come to honor his remains in his tomb. There are still more than 7,500 unaccounted-for Korean War service members.

In 1993, Pope John Paul II declared Kapaun a servant of God — the first step toward sainthood.

Today, let us remember all those who have ever served in our military, especially those from our own families and town of Little River. As their faces are seen in the banners lining main street, let us raise our hearts and prayers and salute them, thanking God for their willingness to defend our freedom and even die for it. And let us remember and pray for military personnel, who suffer from the effects of war, including PTSD, the loss of limbs, and the inability to live life as before. May we pray for them and support for their bravery and love of their fellow countrymen.

And we pray for the souls of all our veterans that all may enjoy life in heaven with the Most Blessed Trinity and all the angels and saints. Amen.