Remains of Father Emil Kapaun, US Army MoH recipient, identified
Kapaun showing off his sniper-shot pipe
The KoB sends word that the remains of Chaplain (Captain) Emil Kapaun have been positively identified. Father Kapaun was an incredible warrior, who fought in WWII and Korea without a weapon. Earning the Medal of Honor (Posthumously) for his actions after being taken prisoner by the Communist North Koreans during the latter war, he has been declared “Servant of God”, the first step on the road to sainthood within the Catholic Church.
We talked about his story of bravery, fidelity, and faith recently here and here. Jonn talked about him when he was awarded the Medal of Honor in 2013 here.
When Kapaun died in the POW camp, his remains were buried there. Later repatriated to the US, they have now been positively identified.
From the Washington Times;
“It was a great joy to learn that the remains of the Servant of God, Father Emil Kapaun, have been identified. I am deeply grateful to the armed services and all those who have been engaged in this painstaking effort,” said Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Washington-based Archdiocese for the Military Services. “I rejoice with the relatives of the Servant of God and with the Diocese of Wichita from whose presbyterate Father Kapaun answered the call within a call to the military chaplaincy.”
Here’s hoping that the Padre can find every bit of peace he deserves. Welcome home, Captain. God bless you.
Category: Army, Army News, No Longer Missing, We Remember
Welcome Home Chaplain.
We will never stop looking for you.
Welcome Home, Chaplain Kapaun
I believe that he found his peace a long time ago. Good that his remains were identified.
Friend of Christ.
Hooah!
Welcome home sir. May you rest in peace.
Welcome home elder brother.
Apologies to Hondo in advance. Not trying to steal his thunder or take away from the Sunday Posting of Returns. This headline jumped out at me while I was searching for other newsy thingies so I snatched it to send to Mason. Had remembered the other articles on The Padre from the past. Trying to determine if The Padre was in the group of 55 boxes that KimCheese had returned as a group several years back. Imma thinking that most of the Returned that have been ID lately were from that group. Have yet to find anything confirming that.
The Padre is a Saint in my book (and I’m Southern Baptist), even if he never was burned at the stake (Joan) or designed weapons of war (Joe).
Well to pile on with K(n)oB’s comment here, does returning his remains give any more credence to the possibility of him being promoted to a higher level towards sainthood.
Just curious, slickapedia was somewhat helpful but a little.
Found this follow up/different article a bit ago. According to this article his remains were actually returned to US Control in 1954 and had been buried as an unknown in Hawaii. I can only guess that DARPA is gradually going thru all of the Unknowns that in The Punchbowl and doing what they can to ID these Troops. Good on them. Article has a few more details that we haven’t seen before on The Padre.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/medal-of-honor-chaplain-fr-emil-kapauns-body-identified-as-sainthood-inquiry-continues-46493
Yeah. Right. Not buying that; you “gun bunnies” love yer thunder. (smile)
Seriously, KoB: thanks. DPAA hadn’t posted this info – or the recovery of another MIA from Korea – to their “Recently Accounted For” webpage by COB Friday (it’s still not there this morning). They did, however, post news releases concerning the two.
I don’t always check the news releases (DPAA has recently been quite good about putting new accountings on their “Recently Accounted For” webpage promptly). If you hadn’t sent this to Mason I’d have missed two this week.
Perhaps if Father Kapaun makes it through the canonization program to become a saint, he will be revered as the patron saint of Christian members of our military.
It would be a fitting reward for his valor…
Michael
During medieval times the Catholic Church chose Michael to be the patron of the military. As a patron saint, he was an advocate and intercessor to God on behalf of the military.
“…the Catholic Church chose…”
Perhaps American forces might prefer to unofficially choose one of their own to be their patron saint.
Just sayin’…
See my comment below, PT. It’s entirely possible that Father Kapaun might be added to the list if and when he’s Canonized by the Catholic Church.
It’s actually a bit more complex than that. While Archangel Michael is the patron of the military in general, each branch of the US military has one or more additional patron saints. Some military sub-elements (e.g., US Army Rangers, Special Forces, Artillery, and Airborne) have patron saints as well. The same is true for some nonmilitary organizations closely associated with the US Military (e.g., the Red Cross) and specific military occupations (Engineers, Chaplains, Physicians), which also have patron saints.
https://www.catholiccompany.com/magazine/patron-saints-of-the-military-plus-patrons-for-particular-branches-services-6211
How many of these are officially designated as such by the Catholic Church? Dunno. But the source, while not part of the Church, does appear to be closely affiliated with it. So I’d guess it to be reasonably accurate.
As y’all prolly figured, I raise a Prayer and a Toast to my Patron, Saint Barbara each day. Been wondering, for awhile now, when the cancel culture was going to make the Army Rangers do away with the Patronage of Saint Andrew because of his Flag. The Saint Andrew’s Cross Battle Flag was carried across many a battlefield before the ANV used a variation of that design. Among other reasons for the adaption was the historical significance of the design.
Colonel William Porcher Miles designed the Batttleflag that was used by Lee’s Army and later adopted by other Confederate Armies and incorporated into the 2nd and 3rd National Flags.
He had studied Vexiology and heraldry at length and at no time in it’s development did he mention “St Andrews Cross” He used the scholarly term “Saltire” to describe the X pattern on the flag. I have never seen any use of the term ” St Andrews Cross or The Southern Cross used in period references either.
Thanks for that link, Hondo. Lot of interesting information on a topic about which I am totally uninformed.
How appropriate that the appropriations-hogging squids selected Santa Claus…😜
Welcome home, Chaplain.?
Welcome Home Sir. Rest in peace now.
Hardcore.
Rest well, Chaplain.
Never Greave for the loss of such men. Rather, That GOD the such men lived.
May he rest in the glory of GOD.
Edit: after ‘rather’ remove ‘that’, replace with ‘Thank’