**Fr. Kapaun an example of love in a prison of hate

Army chaplain Emil J. Kapaun, armed during the Korean War only with the love of God, was described by those who served with him as the best and bravest foot soldier they ever knew.

Fr. Kapaun, a Wichita diocesan priest from Pilsen, died in a prison at 35 and was buried somewhere along the Yalu River in North Korea. "If I don't come back, tell my Bishop that I died a happy death," Fr. Kapaun told fellow prisoners as he was carried away to die.

He will be honored Saturday, June 2, at Kapaun Mount Carmel High School, and Sunday, June 3, at Pilsen.

Fr. Kapaun was captured because he refused an order to try to escape through the surrounding enemy after the 8th Cavalry was overwhelmed on Nov. 2, 1950. Fr. Kapaun was seized by the enemy as he administered the last rites to a dying soldier.

He was taken to a POW camp run by the Chinese.

"It was obvious, Father said, that we must either steal food or slowly , starve," said fellow prisoner 1st Lt. Mike Dowe, who added that Fr. Kapaun risked his life by sneaking into fields around the prison compound to look for hidden potatoes and sacks of corn.

"The riskiest thefts were carried out by daylight under the noses of the Chinese," Lt. Dowe said. "The POWs cooked their own food, which was drawn from an open shed some two miles down the valley.

"When the men were called out to make the ration run, Father would slip in at the end of the line. Before the ration detail reached the supply shed, he'd slide off into the bushes. Creeping and crawling, he'd come up behind the shed, and while the rest of us started a row with the guard and the Chinese doling out the rations, he'd sneak in, snatch up a sack of cracked corn and scurry off into the bushes with it."

Fr. Kapaun would always put the corn into the communal pot, an example that other men, who would steal food for themselves, were shamed into following.

As the unsanitary conditions and unhealthy diet took their toll on the men, the priest from Kansas was there to help.

"Even when they died, he did not abandon them," Lt. Dowe said. "The POWs buried their own dead ... Men dodged this detail whenever they could. But Father always volunteered. And at the grave, as the earth covered the naked body -- the clothing of the dead was saved to warm the living -- he would utter for them the last great plea: 'Eternal rest grant unto him, 0 Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.'"

Fr. Kapaun would often escape to the houses where the enlisted men were held. He would hold a quick service, starting with a prayer for the men who had died in Korea and for their families.

"Then he would say a prayer of thanks to God for the favors He had granted us, whether we knew about them or not," Lt. Dowe said.,

"Then he'd speak, very briefly, a short, simple sermon, urging them to hold on and not lose hope of freedom. And above all, he urged them not to fall for the lying doctrines the Reds were trying to pound into our heads.

Somehow his presence could turn a stinking, louse-ridden mud hut -- for a little while -- into a cathedral, Lt. Dowe said.

Fr. Kapaun did much more for the men. He gathered and washed the foul undergarments of the dead and distributed them to men who could barely move because of dysentery.

"He washed and tended these men as if they were little babies," Lt. Dowe said. "He traded his watch for a blanket and cut it up to make warm socks for helpless men whose feet were freezing. The most dreaded chore of all was cleaning the latrines, and men argued bitterly over whose time it was to carry out this loathesome task. And while they argued, he'd slip out quietly and do the job."

Because of their diet, the POWs became sick and weak with many beginning to show signs of starvation. One day, though, their diet was different.

	Father Emil J. Kapaun
	Fr. Kapaun celebrates a battlefield Mass.
	A crucifix handcarved in Fr. Kapaun's POW camp by a fellow prisoner is displayed at Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School.

**Books for further reading about Father Kapaun

The Story of Chaplain Kapaun, Patriot Priest of the Korean Conflict by Father Arthur Tonne. Published 1954 by Didde Printing Company in Emporia, Kansas. (Currently out of print, but sometimes available at used book stores. Also available at the Chancery office.)

A Shepherd in Combat Boots, Chaplain Emil Kapaun of the 1st Calvary Division by William L. Maher, 1997, by Burd Street Press of Shippensburg, Pa.

Books that contain excerpts about Chaplain Kapaun:

Believed to be Alive by Captain John W. Thornton, 1981, by Paul S. Eriksson, Middlebury, Vt.

Memoir of a Cold War Soldier by Richard E. Mack, 2001, by Kent State University Press

Faces of Holiness by Ann Ball, Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor Books, 1998. Annball.com.

**Father Kapaun's prayers answered with a meal

Editor's note: This is the second half of an article about Father Emil J. Kapaun, a native son of Pilsen, Kan., who died 50 years ago in a North Korean prisoner of war camp. Fr. Kapaun will be honored on Saturday, June 2, at his namesake Kapaun Mount Carmel High School, Wichita. A statue of the hero chaplain will be unveiled during a ceremony Sunday, June 3, in Pilsen.

"The night before St. Patrick's Day, Father called us together and prayed to Saint Patrick, asking him to help us in our misery," Lt. Dowe wrote. "The next day, the Chinese brought us a case of liver-the first meat we had had-and issued us golian instead of millet. The liver was spoiled and golian is sorghum seed ... but to us they were like manna. Later he prayed for tobacco, and that night a guard walked by and tossed a little bag of dry, straw-like tobacco into our room."

As the prisoners continued to weaken, the communists intensified their propaganda. The prisoners would sit for hours in lectures while Comrade Sun, a fanatic who intensely hated Americans, assailed capitalism. After the lecture the men would have to comment on "the great truths revealed by Comrade Sun."

Some men were thrown into a freezing hole for their comments about the lectures, Lt. Dowe said. Others veiled their ridicule: "According to the great doctrines taught us by the noble Stalin, Lenin, Marx, Engels, Amos and Andy..." the men would say.

"Father was not openly arrogant, nor did he use subterfuge," the lieutenant said. "Without losing his temper 'or raising his voice, he'd answer the lecturer point by point, with a calm logic that set Comrade Sun screaming and leaping on the platform like an angry ape."

Fr. Kapaun was never punished, although he was threatened and warned.

In another incident, two officers who knew him well were tortured into accusing Fr. Kapaun of slandering the Chinese and of displaying a hostile attitude toward his captors, he said: "You never should have suffered a moment, trying to protect me."

Lt. Dowe said after the torture, the men expected a trial in which Fr. Kapaun would never return. "Instead, they (the Chinese) merely called him in and bullied him and threatened him. We realized then what we had known all along. They were afraid of him. They recognized in him a strength they could not break, a spirit they could not quell."

On Easter Sunday, 1951, Fr. Kapaun challenged his captors again, openly flouting their law against religious services.

"He could not celebrate the Easter Mass, for all his Mass equipment had been lost at the time of his capture ... He told the story of Christ's suffering and death, and then, holding in his hand a Rosary made of bent barbed wire cut from the prison fence, he recited the glorious mysteries."

The next Sunday, Fr. Kapaun collapsed while holding another service. Although he was weak, he battled dysentery, pneumonia and an infection in one of his legs and eyes.

During the last day Fr. Kapaun spent with his fellow prisoners, Lt. Walter Mayo Jr., said the chaplain was in great pain. "His face was contorted with pain every few minutes and we were all pretty much scared."

With tears rolling down his face he began telling the men the story of the Seven Macchabes in the Old Testament.

"There was an emperor who had an old woman brought up before him. He told her to renounce her Faith or he would torture and kill her. She replied that he could do anything he wanted, but she would not renounce it.

"The emperor then had her seven sons brought in and said he would kill them if she did not do as he said. She still refused and he then put them to death one by one. The old woman was crying and the emperor asked her if she was crying because she was sad. She replied that her tears were tears of joy because she knew her sons were in heaven."

"Father then looked at us and said he was crying for the same reason. He said that he was glad he was suffering because Our Lord had suffered also and that he felt closer to Him.

"By that time we were all crying," Lt. Mayo said. "Everyone in that room, who had seen scores of people die in the past few months and who thought they were pretty hard."

Soon after, the Chinese came to carry Fr. Kapaun to the hospital. "The Chinese saw a good chance to get this man they feared, now that he was helpless. They hated him because he had such an influence over all the prisoners.

"Three or four days later," Lt. Mayo said. "Father died among the men he served, up on a hill overlooking the Yalu River in that communist hospital of death."

(Information for this article, written by Christopher M. Riggs, was taken from Msgr. Arthur Tonne's 'The Story of Chaplain Kapaun' and the Jan. 16, 1954, edition of the Saturday Evening Post.)

	Father Kapaun, second from right, assists a soldier in the field.
	Father Kapaun's namesake is located on East Central in Wichita.

(6/15/01)

**Fr. Kapaun book reprinted in paperback

Msgr. Arthur Tonne's book "The Story of Chaplain Kapaun" has been reprinted.

Msgr. Tonne, a retired priest of the Diocese of Wichita, wrote the book in 1954. Paperback copies are now available.

The book is about Fr. Emil Kapaun, a priest of the diocese, who served as a chaplain during the Korean War. Fr. Kapaun was captured by the North Koreans along with several of his men and died a hero in the prisoner of war camp.

An investigation into his possible beatification has begun.

Reprinted paperback copies are available for a $17 donation by sending a check to: Fr. Kapaun Knights of Columbus Council 3423, c/o Rose Mary Neuwirth, 2035 290th, Marion, KS 66861. She may be contacted by calling (620) 924-5282

Copies of another book about Fr. Kapaun, "Shepherd in Combat Boots" are also available for the same price. It is written by William Maher.

**Bishop names task force to study canonization of Father Emil Kapaun

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted has appointed a task force to study the possibility of establishing a cause for sainthood for Fr. Emil Kapaun, an army chaplain who died in a prisoner of war camp during the Korean war.

"In view of the groundswell of interest in the life of Father Emil Kapaun, and on the basis of the testimony of many witnesses to his heroic holiness of life," bishop said, "the time has come to establish a formal process to investigate his words and deeds and thereby to substantiate his suitability for being officially declared a saint."

Prior to now, the leadership for Fr. Kapaun's cause had been assumed by the Military Archdiocese of the USA, in view of Fr. Kapaun's inspiring service as an army chaplain.

Bishop Olmsted said because of scarcity of resources, Archbishop O'Brien of the Military Archdiocese has gladly agreed to his suggestion that the primary initiative for the cause be brought to the Diocese of Wichita.

"The Archdiocese, nonetheless, remains keenly interested in the cause and is ready to assist in its advancement," Bishop Olmsted said.

Bishop appointed Fr. John Hotze, judicial vicar of the Diocese of Wichita and Pastor at St. Mary Parish in Newton, to serve as chairman of the effort and established a task force to work with him.

The members of the task force are as follows:

Mr. Mike Wescott, Director of Development at Kapaun/Mt. Carmel High School, Associate Director of Development for the Diocese of Wichita;

Mrs. Rosemary Neuwirth, parishioner at St. John Church in Pilsen;

Fr. Wayne Schmid, Pastor of St. Mary Church, Derby/Rose Hill;

Sister Jacinta Langlois, ASC, Vice Chancellor and Archivist of the Diocese;

Sister Barbara Baer, CSJ, PhD in History.

The Task Force will be composed of several committees:

Writing Committee -- whose role is to research all the writings and deeds of Father Kapaun, to establish the case for his cause, and to prepare the "Positio" eventually to be submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints of the Holy See. Members might also include Sister Jacinta, ASC; Sister Barbara Baer, CSJ; Sister Tarcisia, ASC, and Msgr. William Carr.

Development and Finance Committee -- whose role would be to cultivate donors for financing the cause, and to build up a fund for this purpose. Members would include Mike Wescott.

Communication and Public Relations Committee -- whose role would be to keep the public, especially the Catholic faithful, informed of the progress of the cause, and to coordinate efforts to publicize the life and heroic deeds of Father Kapaun. Members would include Rosemary Neuwirth and Fr. Wayne Schmid.

Spirituality Committee -- whose role would be to make known the spiritual foundation for Fr. Kapaun's holiness, especially the Christological and Scriptural components. They would also prepare prayer cards and devotional materials. Members would include those priests of the Diocese who were raised in Marion County: Fathers Oborny, Stuchlik, Jirak, and Voelker.

**Fr. Stroot working to have Fr. Kapaun included in proposed PSU memorial

Father Tom Stroot wants Fr. Emil Kapaun to be a part of a proposed Veterans' Memorial Amphitheater at Pittsburg State University. But if Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted and many others in the diocese have their way, Fr. Kapaun will also be memorialized as a saint.

Fr. Kapaun, a priest of the Diocese of Wichita, died in 1951 in a North Korean prisoner of war camp as a beloved hero to the men he shepherded. Originally from St. John Nepomucene Parish in Pilsen, Fr. Kapaun would be one of the few chaplains honored at the memorial and certainly the only one involved in the process of canonization.

Bishop Olmsted has just announced a diocesan effort to investigate the possibility of beginning a canonization process for Fr. Kapaun. Fr. John Hotze, judicial vicar of the diocese and pastor at St. Mary Parish in Newton will serve as chairman.

Fr. Stroot, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes, Pittsburg, said as part of PSU's effort, any veteran may be memorialized at the $1.2 million amphitheater.

"The university isn't financing the amphitheater -- they are using private gifts -- but they have initiated this effort because it will be on their property," he said.

Donors may endow different sections of the project that will make up the amphitheater. For example, a person may be memorialized with one of two arches, which will cost $100,000 each.

That can also be done by buying engraved granite pavers which will help finance construction of the memorial.

"My proposal is that we recognize Father Kapaun," Fr. Stroot said. "I thought about a bench, because that would be within reach -- $10,000. Or, I'm thinking now, if we do the brick, get as many as we can and make it large enough so that we can put his name, date of birth and death, and maybe places he served."

Father Stroot said he hasn't determined what might be possible because he's not sure about financial support. "Whatever monies we get we will apply to some way recognizing Father Kapaun at this memorial."

Those who wish to assist in the effort may send a check to Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in care of the Fr. Kapaun Memorial. The address is: P.O. Box 214, Pittsburg, KS 66762.

Fr. Stroot said he has been indirectly promoting Fr. Kapaun's cause for many years.

"About eight or nine years ago I was talking to a man dealing with cancer," he said. "While I was talking to him I saw Msgr. Tonne's book about Fr. Kapaun on the shelf and decided that I needed to tell him about Fr. Kapaun and ask him to read that book."

Fr. Stroot suggested that he ask for Fr. Kapaun's intercession.

"I told the man that he was 'going into battle' with cancer. I said Fr. Kapaun was always there for his men -- it didn't matter whether they were Catholic, Protestant, Jewish or whatever. And he didn't leave them in battle. He stayed with them continually."

He suggested the man ask Fr. Kapaun to ask God to give him whatever he needed.

"I told him that some of the men died, some of them survived, and some of them were unscathed. But, whatever it is, you need help in this battle.

"And since then I have been inviting people battling cancer to pray to Fr. Kapaun to intercede for them."

Fr. Stroot said he believes it's important that Fr. Kapaun be remembered at the memorial. "He is a veteran that we need to recognize for what he did for his country and for the men he served."

Plans for the memorial were unveiled last Veteran's Day, Nov. 12. The Pittsburg State University Veterans' Memorial Amphitheater will be built just north of the PSU's Bicknell Sports Complex.

Plans call for breaking ground on the project in the fall of 2002, with completion and the dedication to be held during the university's centennial year, 2003-2004.

The initial design of the Veterans Memorial Amphitheater is complete and the land for the memorial site has been acquired. In addition to funding the initial development of the memorial complex, a perpetual care fund will be established to provide for the long-term care and maintenance of the site.

The architectural firm of Schafer Johnson Cox Frey of Wichita has designed a memorial site to provide a park and plaza setting for special events, educational programs and individual quiet reflection.

The Vietnam Memorial Wall, a one-half sized replica of the permanent memorial wall in Washington, D.C., is a prominent element in the overall site design. Other features include the entry rampart featuring U.S., state and university flags as well as the five seals of the uniformed military branches; two entry portals; a 250-seat amphitheater with a plaza, which will serve as a venue for special events; a reflective pool with an eternal flame; patriotic bronze sculptures and extensive landscaping.

**Documentary about Fr. Emil Kapaun now available

"A Catholic Chaplain in Combat Boots," a 60-minute documentary filmed by Archbishop Philip M. Hannan, a former Chaplain during W.W. II, is now available.

Abp. Hannan brings to the screen the story of Korean War hero and Wichita diocese native son Chaplain Emil J. Kapaun. The documentary is a compelling account of Father Kapaun's incredible heroism and saintly selflessness.

Father died a heroic death as a prisoner of war in Korea May 23, 1951. His enormous, passionate devotion to God and to his country will forever be an inspiration to all soldiers who must fight against tremendous odds to preserve the freedom of the world. Hear from men who suffered with him in Camp 5 as POW's and also stories told by people who knew Father as a young man and a priest in his home town of Pilsen.

The video is available for $20 plus $2 shipping and handling from Father Kapaun K. of C., in care of Rose Mary Neuwirth, 2035 290th Marion KS 66861.