By David Vergun
Army News Service
WASHINGTON, April 12, 2013 – Yesterday at a White House ceremony,
an Army chaplain, Capt. Emil J. Kapaun, was posthumously awarded the
Medal of Honor for his heroic and selfless actions during the Korean
War.
President
Barack Obama holds Army Chaplain (Capt.) Emil Kapaun's Easter stole in
the Oval Office during a meeting with Kapaun's family at the White
House, April 11, 2013. The President and First Lady Michelle Obama met
with members of Chaplain Kapaun's family before awarding him the Medal
of Honor posthumously during a ceremony in the East Room. Official White
House Photo by Pete Souza
(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. |
|
President Barack Obama presented the medal to Kapaun's nephew, Ray
Kapaun, during a ceremony in the East Room. Ray was joined by other
family members and veterans of the Korean War who served with Kapaun.
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.
During the Medal of Honor ceremony, Obama described Kapaun's acts of courage and compassion.
"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."
Among the
documents and interviews within the nomination package, one of the
narratives reads: "As Chinese Communist forces encircled [3rd Battalion,
8th Cavalry during the battle of Unsan,] Kapaun moved fearlessly from
foxhole to foxhole under enemy direct fire in order to provide comfort
and reassurance to the outnumbered soldiers. When the Chinese commandos
attacked the battalion command post, Kapaun and other members of the
headquarters withdrew 500 meters across a nearby river, but Kapaun
returned to help the wounded, gathering approximately 30 injured men
into the relative protection of a Korean dugout."
The narrative
goes on to describe how the battalion became entirely surrounded by
enemy forces. It recounts how Kapaun spent the next day, Nov. 2,
repeatedly rescuing the wounded from "no-man's land outside the
perimeter."
As the battalion's position became hopeless, "Kapaun
rejected several chances to escape, instead volunteering to stay behind
and care for the wounded." At dusk, he made his way back to the dugout.
"Among the injured Americans was a wounded Chinese officer," the
narrative continues. "As Chinese infantry closed in on their position,
Kapaun convinced him to negotiate for the safety of the injured
Americans."
The narrative then describes how, after Kapaun's
capture, he intervened to save the life of a fellow soldier who was
"lying in a nearby ditch with a broken ankle and other injuries. As
Chinese soldiers prepared to execute" the soldier, "Kapaun risked his
own life by pushing the Chinese soldier aside" thereby saving the
soldier's life.
The narrative continues with other acts of
bravery and charity, both during the march north and throughout their
ordeal at the prisoner of war camp. Kapaun died there, May 23, 1951.
Many prisoners of war were inspired by Kapaun, including Mike Dowe, who at the time was an Army first lieutenant.
Dowe recounted how U.S. soldiers ran out of ammunition in the Anju,
North Korea, area in early November 1950, when "wave after wave" of
Chinese communist forces launched a surprise attack across the border
into North Korea.
Thousands of U.S. soldiers were taken prisoner
and were forced to march northward in what Dowe termed "death marches."
Soldiers who were too weak or injured to keep up were shot, he said.
It was then that Dowe, who was a member of the 19th Regiment, 24th
Infantry Division, first saw Kapaun carrying the wounded and encouraging
others to do the same.
The POWs eventually were taken to a valley near Pyoktong, near the Yalu River in northwest North Korea near the Chinese border.
"I don't know the name of that valley, but we called it the 'Kapaun
Valley' because that is where Father Kapaun instilled in us a will to
live," he said.
Kapaun tended to the wounded and encouraged
people to share and help each other, Dowe said. He also snuck out of
camp at night and stole food, which he would bring back and share with
everyone.
Then, in January 1951, the soldiers were moved to
Pyoktong, along the Yalu River. The enlisted were located in a valley
and the officers were separated and placed on a hill, Dowe said. Turkish
prisoners were co-located with the enlisted.
Conditions in the
camps were miserable during winter of 1950-51, which Dowe said was one
of the coldest ever in Korea. Temperatures dipped to minus 28
Fahrenheit.
Dowe said the soldiers were still wearing their
summer uniforms, because they'd been told they would be home by
Thanksgiving 1950, not realizing at the time that the Chinese would join
the North Koreans in attacking the United Nations forces.
All of
the trees in the area had been stripped away, but there was a wood
fence around the officer's compound on the hill, Dowe said. Each
morning, Kapaun got up before everyone else and went out into the
subzero weather to collect wood from that fence, he said.
Kapaun
would use that wood to heat water for coffee in a pan that he had
fashioned from scrap metal. Dowe said he still has vivid recollections
of that "little guy with the beard and scraggly hat pulled over his
ears, made from the sleeve of a sweater, bringing coffee to everyone.
You can't imagine how good that was to start the day off for us."
At night, the men would pass the time telling stories before falling
asleep, Dowe said. A favorite topic was describing the food they'd like
to order once they got home. "Some of the best stories were told by
Father Kapaun, who described his mother's cooking back on the farm," in
Kansas, Dowe said. Kapaun was always keeping the men's spirits up, he
added.
The chaplain continued to make nighttime forays outside
the prison camp to the surrounding countryside, to steal food for the
soldiers in the camps. Dowe often accompanied him on what he termed
"ration runs."
Sometimes they would raid a warehouse where
50-pound bags of millet and cracked corn were stored. Dowe said millet
is like bird seed and very hard to digest. The two would first
distribute it to the enlisted prisoners.
Soon, Kapaun became
known as the "Great Thief," Dowe said. He explained that the nickname
was given to him, not just because he was so successful at stealing
food, but also because it was learned that Kapaun prayed to Saint
Dismas, who was the penitent thief crucified alongside Jesus, as
described in the Bible.
The Chinese often tried to brainwash the
POWs by lecturing them on the evils of capitalism and the virtues of a
communist society, Dowe said.
"Father Kapaun would rebut the
lectures with intelligent responses that the Chinese found impossible to
counter," Dowe recalled. "That would infuriate them. Some who resisted
the lectures would be tortured or killed. We thought Father Kapaun would
be killed as well."
At one point, the guards took Kapaun away.
"We thought that was the end for him," Dowe said. Then, a few days later
they brought him back to camp.
"They were absolutely afraid of
him," Dowe said, explaining why he was returned. "There was an aura
about the guy. He was fearless. He had a way of addressing people that
was frank and straightforward. They couldn't understand why he wasn't
afraid like others. Threats and intimidation had no effect on him."
More than half of the prisoners died that winter, Dowe said. They often
died at night and the soldiers would drag the bodies outside. Every day
there were burial details. Soldiers assigned to these details would
carry the bodies about half a mile past the enlisted area in the valley
and across the Yalu to an island where they would be buried.
"Father Kapaun always volunteered for burial details," Dowe said. "He'd
recover the clothing from the dead, wash it, and then provide clean
clothing to the enlisted."
Besides providing clothing to the
soldiers, Kapaun would dress their wounds, offer words of encouragement
and say prayers, Dowe said, adding that he did this despite being warned
by the guards not to minister to the soldiers.
Despite warnings
from the guards, Kapaun got up extra early on Easter Day 1950 to begin a
special sunrise service. It would be his last Easter.
"It was a
fantastic sermon," Dowe recalled, saying it was the most "momentous
event" in his life. He said hymns were sung and the echoes carried.
Soon, he said, POWs up and down the valley were joining in.
"It was absolutely amazing. There were a few who claimed that Father Kapaun seemed to have a halo around him," Dowe said.
The Chinese quickly arrived, but then became too afraid to stop the service, Dowe said.
The week after the sermon, Kapaun collapsed from a blood clot in his
leg, Dowe said. There were some American doctors in the camp who treated
it and he was walking and eating again soon after.
Kapaun then
contracted pneumonia. The military doctors took care of that as well,
Dowe said. After Kapaun recovered, guards became upset that he hadn't
died. They prepared to remove him to the "death camp," a place where
very sick prisoners were taken to die, and where no food or medical
attention was given to them.
When the guards came, "we pushed
them away," Dowe said. "They brought in troops with bayonets and
threatened everyone if people didn't pick him up and carry him away.
"Father Kapaun told everyone to stop resisting and not to 'fight them
on my behalf.' I was in tears," Dowe continued, his voice tinged with
emotion. "And then he turned to me and said, 'Mike, don't cry. I'm going
where I've always wanted to go. And when I get there, I'll be saying a
prayer for all of you.'"
After Kapaun’s death, some of the guards
who spoke English confided to Dowe that they were afraid of the
"unconquerable spirit of a free man loyal only to his God and his
country."
After the war, which ended in a truce in 1953, Dowe was
invited to testify to the committee involved in writing the POW Code of
Conduct, which is still in effect today. Dowe said Kapaun had a strong
influence on him and he shared that with the committee, which emphasized
the "loyalty" and "keeping the faith" aspects of the code.
"Father Kapaun instilled that kind of loyalty in others, enabling them
to maintain their honor, self-respect and will to live," Dowe said.
"I've seen over and over again that those who did not display that
loyalty would invariably give up and die, often within 24 hours."
Dowe said President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave him a personal
commendation for his contribution to the committee. However, Dowe said
the real credit should go to Kapaun, whom he credits with saving the
lives of hundreds of POWs, directly or indirectly.
Following the
war, Dowe went on to serve in the Army, retiring as a colonel in 1970
and then working as a defense contractor. He currently is a scientist at
Raytheon.
He said he prays to Kapaun every night, asking him for
help and guidance. And, he said, he knows Kapaun is in heaven praying
for him and his fellow POWs.
Dowe said Kapaun had a positive
impact on the many non-Catholics in the prison camp as well. He said the
commander of the Turkish POWs told him as they were being liberated, "I
will pray to my God Allah for Father Kapaun."
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