Chaplain (Capt.) Emil Kapaun’s Remains Return to Wichita, Ks.

Credit: Harry Lockley | Date Taken: 09/25/2021
Chaplain (Capt.) Emil Kapaun joined the U.S. Army from Kansas and served in the China/Burma/India theatre during WWII and with the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division during the Korean War. During 1st Cavalry Division’s retreat from Unsan in November 1950, Chaplain Kapaun volunteered to stay with the wounded, was captured and taken to a Chinese-run prison camp on the Yalu River's south bank known as Camp 5. Chaplain Kapaun continued to minister to other prisoners of war (POW), even after he became mortally ill. He lived long enough to celebrate a final Easter Mass for the POWs in late March and died on May 23, 1951. Other POWs buried him in the camp’s cemetery, but, he was not identified among the remains returned to U.S. custody after the 1953 armistice. In 1993, Pope John Paul II declared Chaplain Kapaun a Servant of God, the first stage on the path to canonization. President Barack Obama posthumously awarded chaplain Kapaun the Medal of Honor at a White House ceremony on April 11, 2013. On March 2, 2021 the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of U.S. Army Chaplain (Capt.) Kapaun. On Sept. 25, 2021, his remains were returned to Wichita, Ks, and taken to his hometown of Pilsen, Ks, where they lay in state. On 29, 2021, his remains received the Rite of Christian Burial, and then were carried by Horse-Drawn Caisson to Wichita’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception for interment.