By Dave Jolivet, Editor
CAPE COD, Mass. — How fitting it is in this Year For Priests, the U.S. Army Decorations Board recently approved the request for the Congressional Medal of Honor to a Catholic priest who served as an Army chaplain during the Korean War? The Diocese of Wichita, Kan., in 2008, also initiated a sainthood cause for Father Emil Kapaun, now Servant of God Father Kapaun. With All Saints Day having just passed and Veteran’s Day to be celebrated November 11, Father Kapaun’s remarkable life of service to his fellow man is still in the hearts and minds of the Church and the U.S. military, both of which he so proudly served.
Father Emil Kapaun, who served in the 3rd Battalion, 8th Regiment, 1st Calvary Division in Korea, was captured on Nov. 2, 1950, along with other men from his battalion and held captive at prisoner of war Camp No. 5 in Pyotktong, North Korea. Just prior to his capture, on All Saints Day, the 35-year-old priest from Pilsen, Kan., crisscrossed a perilous battlefield for nearly 24 hours to aid wounded American soldiers.
In the six months that he survived in the POW camp, Father Kapaun, according to comrades who were held captive with him, consistently displayed extraordinary works of mercy and compassion.
Army veteran Al Makkay Sr. of Centerville, despite recuperating from serious surgery, called The Anchor office shortly after learning about Father Kapaun’s Medal of Honor process moving forward. Makkay has met with several of Father Kapaun’s POW mates and for years has kept the priest hero’s memory alive and played a small part in initiating the sainthood and Medal of Honor causes. “I can’t believe it,” Makkay told The Anchor as he choked up. “This is fabulous news. The Church needs priest heroes, and Father Kapaun is just that. I pray that he does get the Medal of Honor, and that he eventually becomes a saint.”
Approximately eight years ago, Makkay, Father John Hotze, a priest of the Diocese of Wichita, and vice postulator of Father Kapaun’s sainthood cause, and others lauded the priest’s actions to Kan. Rep. Todd Tiahrt with hopes that he could begin the Medal of Honor process.
According to the Wichita Eagle “Fellow prisoners of war have pleaded with the military for decades to give Kapaun the Medal of Honor. As a result, Rep. Todd Tiahrt, as early as April 2001 asked Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to review Kapaun’s eligibility for the honor.”
The request was initially kicked back by the Pentagon. William Latham, a retired Lt. Col. in the Army who was teaching at West Point at the time, was also in the process of writing a book about prisoners of war in Korea. “I interviewed several Korean POWs,” Latham told The Anchor. “Many times Father Kapaun was mentioned in glowing terms.” Latham continued to research Father Kapaun. When the Medal of Honor recommendation was initially shot down, Latham, who was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry during the Desert Storm conflict, collected his research on Father Kapaun and sent it to the priest’s family, and that information was subsequently sent to Rep. Tiahrt, who in turn resubmitted the request. “I like to think that played a small part in the success so far,” added Latham, who currently teaches at the Command and Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, Kan.
The Wichita Eagle recently reported that Tiahrt received a letter several weeks ago from Army Secretary Pete Geren who wrote “After giving this request careful, personal consideration, I have determined that Chaplain Kapaun’s actions in combat operations and as a prisoner of war in Korea warrant award of the Medal of Honor.
“This brave soldier clearly distinguished himself by his courageous actions. The Army and our nation are forever grateful for his heroic service.”
Bishop Francis X. Roque, a retired auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of the Military U.S.A., now living in his home diocese of Providence, R.I., met Father Kapaun while himself serving as an Army chaplain in Korea. “I got to know Father Kapaun in Korea and found him to be a wonderful man, a man dedicated to his comrades and to the Church,” Bishop Roque told The Anchor. “I am very happy that this has happened. All of us who knew him are very happy. This is of great value to acknowledge his wonderful work with his wounded comrades before his capture and his help in finding the missing — all with great self-sacrifice.
“And that this happens in the Year For Priests adds to it. The role of a priest is to do his job quietly and lovingly, and that’s what Father Kapaun did, under very difficult circumstances. He was a loving, dedicated priest.”
Lt. Col. Nathan M. Banks Sr. of the Media Relations Division, Department of the Army Public Affairs told The Anchor, “Army secretary, Pete Geren, wrote to Rep. Todd, saying he agreed that Kapaun was worthy of the honor. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has also endorsed Kapaun’s honor.
“Congress must approve legislation sending Kapaun’s award to President Barack Obama for signature and approval.”
Lt. Col. Banks went on to say, “The Medal of Honor Medal will only be presented by the President of the United States at a formal ceremony at the White House. Priest Kapaun’s living next of kin would be the recipient and the guest of the president.”
“Having the Decoration Board in the Pentagon pass the recommendation is nine-tenths of the battle,” said Makkay. “I can’t see how Congress or the president could deny it.”
It was Father Kapaun’s heroic actions in the battlefield that have caught the attention of the U.S. Army, but it was his actions behind the barbed-wire confines in North Korea that has spurred action in his sainthood cause. Bishop Roque did play a part in getting the ball rolling in Father Kapaun’s sainthood cause, although he will tell you it was a small part.
Bishop Roque and Makkay have befriended several of Father Kapaun’s POW mates, and one of them was retired Col. Filmore A. McAbee, a Cummaquid resident. Prior to his death several years ago, McAbee sat down with The Anchor to share memories of Father Kapaun inside Camp No. 5. He recounted episodes of being tortured, starved and neglected by his captors. Starvation, exposure and dysentery were quite common among the inmates, yet Father Kapaun, while in a weakened state himself, tended to his fellow soldiers. “To survive Camp No. 5,” McAbee recounted, “you had to want to live. Those who didn’t or weren’t strong enough mentally just gave up and died. Father Kapaun worked to prevent that. The POWs needed encouragement and Father Kapaun provided it.”
McAbee said that many of the men held captive with Father Kapaun weren’t Catholic, yet Father Kapaun was a rock to which all could cling. “We had Protestants, Catholics, Turkish Muslims, and all races and nationalities in our camp,” said McAbee, who was not a Catholic. “Yet Father Kapaun ministered to them all, and when he could say a Mass, they all wanted to be there.
“The Chinese soldiers were afraid of him because he was a man of the cloth, and because all the men had tremendous respect for him. They didn’t want to kill him, but they did nothing for him when he fell ill. Father Kapaun could have survived with medicine and care, but his captors didn’t provide it.”
Latham had interviewed McAbee and through him befriended Makkay and Bishop Roque. “This is great news,” said Latham. “Father Kapaun deserves the Medal of Honor, and any progress is good news. But it’s important to remember that there are many other service members who made incredible sacrifices and they will never be recognized with the Medal of Honor. The system isn’t perfect, but Father Kapaun is as deserving as any Medal of Honor recipient.”
Lt. Col. Banks said that seven chaplains have previously received the Medal of Honor.
In the 50s, the Army named Kapaun Air Station in Kaiserslautern, Germany after Father Kapaun.
While Bishop Roque and Makkay are thrilled with recent Medal of Honor news, they would like to see the sainthood cause be successful. “It’s wonderful about the Medal of Honor,” said Bishop Roque, “but the big honor would be sainthood. Receiving awards and accolades are nice, but it’s serving God and our fellow man that is the important thing, and Father Kapaun was a great role model in those regards.”
“Now we have to get him to sainthood,” said Makkay.