Excerpts from a pamphlet written by 1st Lt. Ray M. (Mike) Dowe, Jr.

  He wore the cross of the Chaplain branch instead of the crossed rifles of the infantry, but he was, I think, the best foot soldier I ever knew, and the kindest.  His name was Emil Joseph Kapaun, and he was a priest of the Roman Catholic Church.  The men he served in the prison camps of Korea didn't care whether he was Catholic or Baptist, Lutheran or Presbyterian.  To all of them, Catholic, Protestant and Jew alike, and to men who professed no formal faith at all, he was simply "FATHER," and each of them, when in trouble came, drew courage and hope and strength from him.

  He's dead now, murdered by the Red Chinese, and his body lies in an unmarked grave somewhere along the Yalu.  The hundreds of men who knew and loved him have not forgotten him.  I write this so folks at home can know what kind of a man he was, and what he did for us, and how he died.

  The first thing I want to make clear is this, he was a priest of the Church, and a man of great piety, but there was nothing ethereal about him, nothing soft or unctious or holier than thou.  He wore his piety in his heart.  Outwardly he was all G.I., tough of body, rough of speech sometimes, full of the wry humor of the combat soldier.  In a camp where men had to steal or starve, he was the most accomplished food thief of them all.  In a prison whose inmates hated their communist captors with a bone deep hate, he was the most unbending enemy of Communism, and when they tried to brainwash him, he had the guts to tell them to their faces that they lied.  He pitied the Reds for their delusions, but he preached no doctrine of turn-the-other-cheek.  I came upon him once sitting in the sunshine by the road.  There was a smile on his face and a look of happiness in his eyes.

  I hated to break in on his meditations, but I needed cheering, so I asked him, "What are you thinking of, Father?" "Of that happy day," he said, "when the first American tank rolls down the road, then I'm going to catch that little so and so, Comrade Sun, and kick his butt right over the compound fence."

  Father always spoke in parallels, relating the sufferings that Christ endured to those we were forced to bear.  As he spoke, the agony in the garden, the road to Calvary, the Crucifixion, became very real to us who bore our own crosses of blows, and cold, and illness, and starvation.  Christ endured, he told us, and we, too, must endure, for the day of our resurrection from the tomb of the prison camp would surely come, as surely as the stone was rolled away from the sepulchre.  It is because of these sermons, which gave hope and courage, and food he stole for us, and the care he gave us when we were sick, many of us came back home who never would have survived our long ordeal without him.

RESOLUTION of the United States Federation of Korea Veterans Organizations (USFKVO)

WHEREAS Father Emil J. Kapaun, Chaplain, US Army, a native of Pilsen, Kansas, and accredited by the Diocese of Wichita, United States of America, was Chaplain of the 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, Korea, in 1950, and

WHEREAS Chaplain Kapaun distinguished himself, as both a Soldier and a Chaplain, on the field of battle in Korea during the early days of the Korean War in an uncommon manner, ministering both spiritually and physically to his fellow Soldiers, particularly the sick, wounded and dying, becoming a legend among the troops he served, and

WHEREAS Chaplain Kapaun further distinguished himself by ministering to the wounded and dying of his Regiment, during the height of the fierce battle at Unsan, North Korea on November 2, 1950, in which his Regiment faced overwhelming odds because of the Chinese Communist invasion of Korea, a battle from which Chaplain Kapaun might have escaped but remained behind ministering to the wounded and dying, as provided in the Geneva Conventions, a decision resulting in his capture by the Chinese Communist Command, and

WHEREAS Chaplain Kapaun, illegally designated a Prisoner of War rather than a detained person, as provided for in the Geneva Conventions, while a prisoner of war in several camps in the vicinity of PYOKTONG, NORTH KOREA, unselfishly gave himself in total service to his fellow Prisoners of War, his military duty and his commitment as an instrument of God, without regard to race, color, or creed, performing EXCEEDINGLY ABOVE AND BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY to provide aid and comfort to his fellow Prisoners of War urging their will to live and will to continue to be American and Free World fighting men even in captivity, all at the cost of his own health and well-being as evidenced by numerous documented acts of the most conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity, in the presence of an armed enemy, and

WHEREAS Chaplain Kapaun died on May 23, 1951, of abuse by his captors, respiratory disease and a blood clot in his leg, confined to a filthy Communist prison "death house" tending to his flock up until he could do so no longer, his sacrifice an example to inspire and encourage his companions and others held as Prisoners of War throughout the camps as they received word of his indomitable courage and spirit for God and Country, and

WHEREAS Chaplain Kapaun through the example of his life and military duty has become one of the most popular heroes of the Korean War, Soldier and Saint, an inspiration to his fellow prisoners, and all who serve in the military, who gave of himself until he was spent, often referred to as the man who best sums up the glory of the Chaplain Corps, and

WHEREAS Chaplain Kapaun was universally known as a soldier's soldier and a saint by those who served with him during his military service, and especially by those who suffered with him in the brutal Communist prison camps, and

WHEREAS the life and heroic exploits of Chaplain Kapaun are widely know throughout the Chaplain Corps and the Korean War Veteran Community and to numbers of the public in the US and other nations of the world, and

WHEREAS the Vatican, in 1993, in testimony of the love and affection of those who knew him and of his extraordinary love of and devotion to his fellow man, announced that Emil J. Kapaun was to be named a "Servant of God," the first step to an eventual elevation to sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church, and

WHEREAS the United States Federation of Korea Veterans Organizations (USFKVO), Inc., notes and supports the efforts among the five million American Korea War and Korea service veterans community, and the resolutions of the Korean War Veterans Association, USA (KWVA) and many other American institutions seeking the appropriate posthumous award of the Medal of Honor to Chaplain Emil J. Kapaun, US Army; so,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the United States Federation of Korea Veterans Organizations (USFKVO), Inc., supports the recommendation for posthumous award of THE MEDAL OF HONOR to Chaplain Emil J. Kapaun, one of the US Army's and United Nations Command s finest, and we encourage the Senior US Army Decorations Board to favorably act on this resolution and all other petitions to this end; and,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States Federation of Korea Veterans Organizations (USFKVO), Inc., calls upon the International Federation of Korean War Veterans Associations, Seoul, Korea, and all veterans groups in the free world to support this resolution.

April 24, 2004