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HONORING FATHER EMIL JOSEPH KAPAUN
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Estes) for 5 minutes.
Mr. ESTES. Madam Speaker, today I would like to honor one of the finest men to ever come from the State of Kansas, Father Emil Joseph Kapaun, or Kapaun, as he is frequently referred to in Kansas.
Father Kapaun, or Kapaun, who grew up on a farm in Kansas, was ordained as a priest for the Wichita Diocese on June 9, 1940. He went on to become a U.S. Army Chaplain during World War II and the Korean war with the rank of captain.
Father Kapaun died in a North Korean prison camp on May 23, 1951, at the age of 35. In 35 short years, Father Kapaun sacrificed more and saved more lives and souls than many could ever hope to do in 100 years.
Many around the world rightly celebrate the story of Father Kapaun, who is being considered for sainthood by the Catholic Church; a first for a native Kansan.
His Medal of Honor citation gives a small glimpse at the deep reservoir of Father Kapaun's bravery and honor. It reads:
Chaplain Kapaun calmly walked through withering enemy fire in order to provide comfort and medical aid to his comrades and rescue the wounded from no-man's-land.
After the battle, when given the option to escape to safety with his unit, Father Kapaun volunteered to stay behind to care and minister to the wounded. He was subsequently captured by the Communists and taken to a prison camp where he was forced to march more than 60 miles in harsh weather.
While in captivity, his frank, down-to-earth Kansas manner, along with the unassuming farm style and dry wit, made him the servant leader for all the POWs held by the Communists. Although greatly suffering himself, he always put his needs second to others. His strength and optimism allowed his fellow GIs to once again believe that they would one day return to freedom in America.
We know that Father Kapaun suffered unthinkable cruelty at the hands of his prison guards who had a special hatred for Christians. But as the many stories attest, their rage and violence did not deter Father Kapaun in the slightest.
One of his fellow prisoners wrote a letter upon returning from Korea, saying that, ``with his scraggly beard and his odd-looking woolen cap made of the sleeve of an old GI sweater, pulled down over his ears, he looked like any other half-starved prisoner.
``But there was something in his voice and bearing that was different--a dignity, a composure, a serenity that radiated from him like a light. Wherever he stood was holy ground, and the spirit within him a spirit of reverence and abiding faith went out to the silent, listening men and gave them hope and courage and a sense of peace. By his very presence, somehow, he could turn a stinking, louse-ridden mud hut, for a little while, into a cathedral.''
Another passage from that letter reads that, as Father Kapaun spoke,
``the agony in the garden, the road to Calvary, the Crucifixion, became very real to us, who ourselves lived daily under the threat of death, and who bore our own crosses of blows, and cold, and illness, and starvation. But Christ endured, he told us, and we, too, must endure, for the day of resurrection from the tomb of the prison camp would surely come.''
For generations, Father Kapaun has inspired hundreds around the world to greater faith and service through adversity. Today, I am proud that Father Kapaun has returned home to his native Kansas. He is truly an American hero of the first class.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 171
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