From Kansas Farm to Potential Saint: The Chaplain Who Stayed With His Men in Korea

Two days before Memorial Day in 1951, Father Emil Kapaun, a Catholic priest and U.S. Army chaplain from Kansas, died alone in a North Korean prison camp. Seventy-five years later, the man who risked his life to care for wounded soldiers and minister to fellow POWs is on a path that could make him the first American military figure ever canonized.

Chaplain (Second Lt.) Emil Kapaun circa 1943. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Army

Pope Francis took the first formal step toward Kapaun’s sainthood last year by recognizing that he gave his life for others. The Vatican now must review and verify two reported miracles attributed to him for canonization to proceed.

Chaplain Emil Kapaun conducts a field Mass on the hood of his jeep, August 11, 1950. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Army

Heroism on the Korean Peninsula

Born in 1916 on a small farm near Wichita, Kansas, to a Czech Catholic family, Emil Kapaun was ordained at 24. He served as an Army chaplain in World War II and rejoined the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps in 1948. In 1950, he was among the first American troops to land on the Korean Peninsula and soon earned a reputation for running toward the fighting to help the wounded.

Father Emil Kapaun (right) and a doctor carry an exhausted Soldier off a battlefield in Korea, early in the war. The photo shows Kapaun to the GI’s left. The soldier on the GI’s right side was Capt. Jerome A. Dolan, a medical officer with the 8th Cavalry regiment. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Army

During the November 1950 Battle of Unsan, Kapaun repeatedly crossed heavy enemy fire to carry injured soldiers out of no-man’s land. When able-bodied troops retreated, he chose to remain with the wounded — fully aware that capture was likely. He was taken prisoner by Chinese and North Korean forces.

President Barack Obama awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously to Army chaplain (Capt.) Emil J. Kapaun at the White House, April 11, 2013. Here, Kapaun’s nephew, Ray Kapaun, accepts it on his behalf. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Army

Care and Defiance as a Prisoner

In captivity, Father Kapaun became a spiritual and practical lifeline for fellow prisoners. He tended the sick, foraged for food, built makeshift fires despite guards’ orders, and quietly refused to accept the political indoctrination pressed on inmates. On Easter morning 1951, he led a sunrise service in open defiance of his captors.

Ray Kapaun displays the Medal of Honor citation and photo of his uncle, Chaplain (Capt.) Emil J. Kapaun as (from left) Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, Secretary of the Army John McHugh and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond T. Odierno applaud and Sgt. Maj. of the Army Raymond Chandler looks on during the ceremony inducting the Korean War chaplain into the Pentagon Hall of Heroes, April 12, 2013. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Army

“Don’t worry about me. I’m going where I always wanted to go, and when I get there, I’ll say a prayer for all of you.”

When his health deteriorated, guards came to take him to the camp “hospital,” a place prisoners understood to be a death cell. Fellow POWs tried to stop the guards, but Kapaun discouraged them from resisting, offering reassurance instead.

Legacy and Recognition

Father Emil Kapaun was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama in 2013 for his conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity. Decades after his death, remains believed to be his were identified and returned to Kansas in 2021.

Now, as the Vatican reviews reported miracles attributed to him, Kapaun’s journey—from a Midwestern farm to the battlefields of Korea and, potentially, to the roll of saints—has captured renewed attention across the United States and among the faithful worldwide.

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