The ultimate sacrifice

Richard A. Sokerka

Memorial Day, our nation’s most solemn holiday, will be marked next Monday, May 31. On that day, to honor all those men and women who, in service to our nation, have made the ultimate sacrifice, Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney will celebrate the annual diocesan Memorial Day Mass in Calvary Cemetery, Paterson, at 10:30 a.m.

But for far too many Americans, Memorial Day has no meaning other than barbecues and a day at the beach. They have no recollection of the valiant defenders of our republic who gave their lives on the beaches of Normandy, Anzio, and Guadalcanal, so that we might continue to live in freedom.

Every American should be mindful of those sacrifices made across the years of our nation’s existence and pass on to future generations the stories of the bravery of those lost.

One such story that needs to be told is that of Father Emil Kapaun, a priest and U.S. Army Chaplain born in the small Czech farming community of Pilsen, Kan. Four years after his ordination as a priest of the Diocese of Wichita, he entered the Chaplain Corps and served in World War II in the Burma-India theater. After the war, he went back to parish life, but re-entered the Chaplain Corps. In 1950, Chaplain Kapaun and the 8th Cavalry Regiment of the Army’s 1st Cavalry Division were among the first troops sent to help defend nearby South Korea after its invasion by the communist North Koreans. Chaplain Kapaun gained a reputation for bravery by ministering to soldiers in the thick of battle.

Eventually pushing its way into North Korea, the 8th Cavalry was ambushed by the communist Chinese Army that had secretly entered the war. Here, at the Battle of Unsan on Nov. 2, Chaplain Kapaun braved the battlefield to rescue men or give them Last Rites. He showed his dedication to his “boys” by choosing to remain with a number of wounded men rather than escape. Captured by the enemy, this group was forced to march more than 60 miles to a prison camp along the Chinese border in the bitter cold. Along the way, Father Kapaun carried his wounded comrades and encouraged others to do likewise.

As a POW, Father Kapaun spent himself in heroic service to his fellow prisoners without regard for race, color, or creed, giving them help and hope when they needed it most. Ignoring his own ill health, he nursed the sick and wounded, stole food for the hungry, picked lice off men, washed dirty and soiled clothing, and encouraged men through prayer and humor to keep fighting for life. After he fell sick, the Chinese moved Father Kapaun to a so-called hospital, where, denied medical assistance, he died on May 23, 1951.

Like many of the brutally treated POWs who lost their lives in the Korean Conflict, the whereabouts of Father Kapaun’s remains was a mystery. But miraculously, this March 4, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced that the Department of Defense investigators had identified Father Kapaun among the unknown Korean War soldiers buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii.

For his heroic actions at the Battle of Unsan, he was posthumously awarded the military’s highest award, the Medal of Honor, in 2013, and in 2015 his cause for sainthood was presented to the Congrega­tion for Saints in Rome.

Jesus tells us, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13).

This Memorial Day let us remember Father Emil Kapaun, who lived Jesus’ words, and all those who gave their lives that we might be free.