As we spend yet another weekend anxiously watching events unfold on the Korean peninsula and we express both our concern and support for our troops presently serving in South Korea, a ceremony at the White House on Thursday reminds us of the service and sacrifices of our military on that same peninsula more than 60 years ago.
For on Thursday, President Obama posthumously awarded our nation’s highest military decoration for valor in combat, the Medal of Honor, to Army chaplain, Capt. Emil J. Kapaun.
The story of Father Kapaun’s courage, selflessness and compassion that earned him such high honor is probably best expressed by the words of the commander-in-chief during the ceremony: “This is the battle we honor today. 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.”
Only six other chaplains have been awarded the Medal of Honor.
Chaplain (Capt.) Emil J. Kapaun was just 35 years old when he died in a prisoner of war camp during the Korean War. His remains were never recovered.
Kapaun was ordained a priest in 1940, and served under the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wichita in Pilsen, Kan. In 1944, he began serving as an Army chaplain. In 1993, Kapaun was named a “Servant of God” by the Vatican, and is currently a candidate for sainthood.
Here are the remarks made by the President during the ceremony in the East Room of the White House where he presented the medal to Kapaun’s nephew, Ray Kapaun, as reported by David Vergun of the Army News Service.
“When commanders ordered an evacuation, he chose to stay and tend to their wounds,” Obama said. “When the enemy broke through and there was combat hand to hand, he carried on, comforting the injured and the dying, offering them some measure of peace before they left this Earth. When enemy forces bore down, it seemed like the end.
“Father Kapaun spotted a wounded Chinese officer. He pleaded with [him] and convinced him to call out to his fellow Chinese,” the president continued. “The shooting stopped, and they negotiated a safe surrender, saving those American lives.
“Then as Father Kapaun was being led away, he saw another American, wounded, unable to walk, lying in a ditch, defenseless,” Obama added. “An enemy soldier was standing over him, rifle aimed at his head ready to shoot. Father Kapaun pushed the enemy soldier aside. And then as the enemy soldier watched, stunned, Father Kapaun carried that wounded American away.
“This is the battle we honor today,” the president continued. “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.
“He carried that wounded soldier for four miles on the death march and when Father Kapaun grew tired, he’d help the wounded Soldier hop on one leg,” the president added. “When other prisoners stumbled, he picked them up. When they wanted to quit, knowing stragglers would be shot, he begged them to keep walking.”
The president then went on to describe how Kapaun cared for the soldiers right up until the time of his death.
Obama then presented the Medal of Honor to Ray Kapaun, Father Kapaun’s nephew.
Kapaun’s Medal of Honor nomination reads: “for conspicuous acts of gallantry and intrepidity, at the risk of life, above and beyond the call of duty, Nov. 1-2, 1950, during the Korean War.”
In a follow-up post we will read in more detail about the heroic and compassionate actions by Father Kapaun during the Korean War and during his captivity by the Chinese.
Today, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel inducted Father Kapaun into the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes.
In his remarks, Hagel described Kapaun as one of the unheralded heroes of the Korean conflict, noting the courageous Catholic chaplain had sacrificed everything so that others could live.
“In a day when real heroes are hard to find, at a time when America is searching for a center of gravity, it’s particularly important that we grab a hold of people like Father Kapaun and not just acknowledge those acts of heroism and gallantry in what he did as a clergyman but the composite, who he was and what he was about,” Hagel said at the Pentagon ceremony.
Accounts from survivors credit him for their ability to endure horrific camp conditions including severe cold, disease and starvation.
Kapaun would himself die as a prisoner, but not before serving as a leader to thousands of men captured along with him.
“I know of no finer example to point to,” said Hagel, as he inducted Kapaun, who hailed from Pilsen, Kan., into the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes.
Kapaun “just didn’t appear in the Korean War. Something shaped him,” the secretary added, as reported by Nick Simeone of the American Forces Press Service.
Photos: White House and DOD
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.