Sen. Marshall introduces Senate resolution honoring Father Emil Kapaun

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, introduced a resolution to honor the late Father Emil Kapaun on Tuesday that could be voted on by senators later this week, according to Marshall spokesperson Michawn Rich.

Kapaun, a Marion County native, was captured by the Chinese during the Korean War and died at a prison camp in 1951. It was announced last week that Kapaun’s remains had been identified.

“As a Kansan and fellow veteran I know well the honorable work Father Kapaun did for our troops and our great nation,” Marshall said in an emailed statement. “Father Kapaun truly is a national hero and I am relieved to hear that his remains are finally returning home.”

Kapaun’s heroism included negotiating for the safety of wounded soldiers and knocking aside the rifle of a Chinese soldier about to execute Staff Sgt. Herbert Miller, the legislation says.

Soldiers who survived the prison camp credited Kapaun, who is being considered for sainthood, with saving their lives.

Kapaun ministered to soldiers and even stole food to help sustain them through the squalor and frigid temperatures at the camp.

In 1993, the Catholic Church declared Kapaun a Servant of God, launching the cause for his possible canonization. Kapaun’s valor earned him a posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor in 2013.

During the Congressional Medal of Honor ceremony, President Barack Obama said that Kapaun chose to stay when his commanders ordered everyone to leave.

“When the enemy broke through and the combat was hand to hand, he carried on – comforting the injured and the dying, offering some measure of peace as they left this Earth,” he said. “This is the valor we honor today – an American soldier who didn’t fire a gun, but who wielded the mightiest weapon of all, a love for his brothers so pure that he was willing to die so that they might live.”

Kapaun, who is the namesake of Kapaun Mt. Carmel Catholic High School in Wichita, is two steps short of being canonized as a saint. The Congregation for Saints must approve a miracle attributed to Kapaun’s intercession and then another miracle that has no medical explanation must occur and be approved by the congregation before he is eligible to be declared a saint by the pope.

Contributing: Eagle correspondent Stan Finger

This story was originally published March 9, 2021 at 3:11 PM.