Father Emil Kapaun
Priest, Military Chaplain, Prisoner of War, Servant of God

Emil Kapaun was born on April 20, 1916 in Pisen Kansas.  He became an altar server and desired to become a missionary priest.  His parents were unable to afford to pay for his seminary training.  The parish priest heard of the family's dilemma and offered to help finance Emil's education.  At the priests suggestion, Emil studied to become a diocesan priest.  After attending Kendrick Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, he was assigned to his home parish as an assistant.

Father Kapaun would have probably have remained a simple country priest if not for the outbreak of World War II.  Realizing the need for military chaplains to minister to the men and women of the armed forces, Father Kapaun volunteered to be an army chaplain.

After completing chaplain's training school, Chaplain Kapaun was assigned to Burma and India.  In one month, he traveled 2,500 miles by jeep and airplane to visit troops.  Mass was celebrated wherever a location could be found, the army mess or a native village.  In 1946 he was discharged from the army, but he knew that the need for chaplains was still great.  He returned to military duty and was stationed in Japan.

When war broke out in Korea, Chaplain Kapaun did what he could to help the soldiers.  Father Kapaun's unit was in the midst of the fighting.  Father did what he could to help the soldiers, praying with them and reassuring them.  Whenever and wherever he could, he would offer the Mass, sometimes using the hood of a jeep for an altar with artillery shells exploding close by.

On September 15, 1950, Father's regiment was surrounded by the Chinese forces who had join the fight to help their allies, the North Koreans.  The Americans had no choice but to surrender.  Witnesses said that there were several opportunities for the chaplain to escape and he was encouraged to do so.  But he refused to leave the wounded soldiers.  They were taken on a brutal two week march to a POW camp. 

The chaplain did what needed to be done - he encouarged, prayed, told jokes, sat with the men when they were sick - whatever was needed to survive.  Once, he traded his watch for a blanket from a Communist guard and used the blanket to make socks for some of the weaker prisoners.  He would do even the most unpleasant tasks willingly.  Father Kaupaun would even clean the clothes of the men sick with dysentery. Father would share his own meager rations with the weaker men.

The guards did not like the positive influence he had on the men.  While they tried to intimidate and threaten him, they seemed to be afraid of him. They sense that if they killed or tortured the chaplain, the prisoners might revolt.

Father suffered many illnesses.  He developed a blood clot in his lower leg. His fellow POW"s designed and built a device to help keep his leg elevated. They found some old bricks which they heated and put next to his leg.  Aspirin tables that the prisons had kept hidden were given to him and they donated food to make sure Father had enough to eat.  His health steadily grew worse.  He was struck with diarrhea and then pneumonia. 

When the guards saw how ill he was, they realized now was the time to get rid of the troublesome priests.  He was taken to what the guards called the 'hospital'.  There was little or no medicine  and no beds. The prisoners in the hospital slept on the mud floors and were not cared for.  The man who had cared for so many others spent the last two days of his life alone in a dark, dirty room with no food and no medical care. He died May 23, 1951.

The memory of his deeds remained alive to the men left in the camp.  Captain Gerald Fink carved a crucifix as a memorial using tools he had made and scrap wood.  This now hangs in the Kapaun-Mt. Carmel Catholic High School in Wichita Kansas.

Father Kapaun is the most highly-decorated chaplain in United States military history.  he received the Bronze Star and the Distinguished Service Cross, the Legion of Merit medal and the Prisoner of War medal. The greatest honor came in 1993, when he was declared a Servant of God.

For more information read
"Heroic Catholics of the Twentieth Century
By Sister Elizabeth Ann Barkett SJW
New Hope Publications
New Hope, KY
or
Sisters of St. Joseph the Worker
Walton KY