America's North Shore Journal

Cita­tion:

The Dis­tin­guished Ser­vice Cross is pre­sented to Emil Joseph Kapaun (O-0558217), Cap­tain (Chap­lain), U.S. Army, for extra­or­di­nary hero­ism in con­nec­tion with mil­i­tary oper­a­tions against an armed enemy of the United Nations while serv­ing as Chap­lain with Head­quar­ters Com­pany, 8^th Cav­alry Reg­i­ment (Infantry), 1^st Cav­alry Divi­sion. Cap­tain (Chap­lain) Kapaun dis­tin­guished him­self by extra­or­di­nary hero­ism in action against enemy aggres­sor forces in the vicin­ity of Unsan, Korea, on 1 and 2 Novem­ber 1950.

On the after­noon of 1 Novem­ber 1950, and con­tin­u­ing through the fol­low­ing 36 hours, the reg­i­ment was sub­jected to a relent­less, fanat­i­cal attack by hos­tile troops attempt­ing to break through the perime­ter defense. In the early morn­ing hours, the enemy suc­ceeded in break­ing through the defenses, and hand-to-hand com­bat ensued in the imme­di­ate vicin­ity of the com­mand post where the aid sta­tion had been set up. Chap­lain Kapaun, with com­plete dis­re­gard for his per­sonal safety, calmly moved among the wounded men, giv­ing them med­ical aid and eas­ing their fears. His coura­geous man­ner inspired all those present and many men who might oth­er­wise have fled in panic were encour­aged by his pres­ence and remained to fight the enemy.

As the bat­tle pro­gressed, the num­ber of wounded increased greatly and it became appar­ent that many of the men would not be able to escape the enemy encir­clement. Finally, at dusk on Novem­ber 2, 1950, the remain­ing able– bod­ied men were ordered to attempt to break through the sur­round­ing enemy. At this time, although fully aware of the great dan­ger, Chap­lain Kapaun vol­un­tar­ily remained behind, and when last seen was admin­is­ter­ing med­ical treat­ment and ren­der­ing reli­gious rites wher­ever needed.

Head­quar­ters, Eighth U.S. Army, Korea: Gen­eral Orders No. 625 (August 18, 1951)
Born: 4÷20÷1916 at Pilsen, Kansas
Home Town: Mar­ion, Kansas

Stars and Stripes

Com­mu­nist forces in the fall of 1950 had over­run the 1^st Cav­alry Divi­sion in north­ern Korea near the Chi­nese bor­der, and Amer­i­can com­man­ders ordered their forces to retreat. Kapaun, a Catholic priest with the 3^rd Bat­tal­ion, refused and stayed to care for the men who couldn’t flee. [snip]

While in cap­tiv­ity, Kapaun risked his life to steal food from the sur­round­ing fields and sneaked away to a nearby river to clean cot­ton ban­dages for the wounded held in a dirty and unsan­i­tary prison camp.

Many vet­er­ans who have sur­vived the camp credit Kapaun for help­ing them get through the ordeal. He is remem­bered for defy­ing camp rules for­bid­ding reli­gious ser­vices. On Easter Sun­day in 1951, he held Mass using bro­ken wood to make a cross and barbed wire to form a rosary.

On May 25, Kapaun died while in cap­tiv­ity. The mil­i­tary posthu­mously awarded Kapaun the Dis­tin­guished Ser­vice Cross, but Korean vet­er­ans have requested that he receive the Medal of Honor. In 1993, the Vat­i­can named him a “Ser­vant of God.” Some Catholic war vet­er­ans are cam­paign­ing for Kapaun to become a saint.