Title: Honoring Army Chaplain Emil J. Kapaun.
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
This resolution honors and recognizes Chaplain (Captain) Emil J. Kapaun for his heroic service to the country and expresses condolences to his family. The resolution also states that the House of Representatives will never cease in the task of recovering and remembering all prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 205 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 205

                 Honoring Army Chaplain Emil J. Kapaun.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 9, 2021

   Mr. Mann (for himself, Mr. LaTurner, and Mr. Estes) submitted the 
  following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Armed 
                                Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
                 Honoring Army Chaplain Emil J. Kapaun.

Whereas Chaplain (Captain) Emil J. Kapaun was born to parents of German-Bohemian 
        ancestry in the rural farming community of Pilsen, Kansas on April 20, 
        1916;
Whereas Chaplain Kapaun studied classics and philosophy and graduated from 
        Conception College in Conception, Missouri in June 1936 and Kenrick 
        Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri in 1940;
Whereas Chaplain Kapaun was ordained a Catholic priest of the Diocese of Wichita 
        in 1940;
Whereas Chaplain Kapaun was appointed auxiliary chaplain in 1943 at the 
        Herington Army Airfield near Herington, Kansas;
Whereas, in 1944, Chaplain Kapaun entered the Army Chaplain Corps and, following 
        a brief post in Camp Wheeler, Georgia, Chaplain Kapaun served the troops 
        in World War II in the Burma and India Theater until 1946;
Whereas, in 1948, Chaplain Kapaun re-enlisted in the Army Chaplain Corps for the 
        second time;
Whereas Chaplain Kapaun mobilized in support of the Korean conflict in 1950, and 
        served as a chaplain with the 1st Cavalry Division in Japan and Korea;
Whereas Chaplain Kapaun was taken as a prisoner of war by Chinese forces on 
        November 2, 1950, during the Battle of Unsan;
Whereas during the fight, which started on November 1, 1950, Chaplain Kapaun 
        moved repeatedly under enemy direct fire to rescue wounded soldiers 
        outside the perimeter of his battalion and successfully--

    (1) negotiated with the enemy for the safety of wounded soldiers of the 
United States;

    (2) knocked aside the rifle of a Chinese soldier who was about to 
execute Staff Sergeant Herbert Miller; and

    (3) rejected multiple opportunities for escape and instead volunteered 
to stay and care for the wounded;

Whereas, during the time Chaplain Kapaun spent in captivity, Chaplain Kapaun 
        frequently risked his life by sneaking around the camp after dark, 
        foraging for food, building fires, caring for the sick, and encouraging 
        his fellow soldiers to sustain their faith and their humanity, and 
        Chaplain Kapaun risked punishment by leading prayers and spiritual 
        services for the other prisoners of war;
Whereas Chaplain Kapaun died of illness and maltreatment on May 23, 1951;
Whereas, in 1953, Chaplain Kapaun's surviving fellow prisoners of war were 
        released and began to share stories of the role of Chaplain Kapaun in 
        their survival;
Whereas, in 1956, Chaplain Kapaun Memorial High School (now known as Kapaun Mt. 
        Carmel Catholic High School) was opened and named after Chaplain Kapaun;
Whereas, in 1993, Pope John Paul II declared Chaplain Kapaun a Servant of God, 
        the first stage on the path to canonization and the Vatican continues 
        investigations into possible canonization;
Whereas, in 2013, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Chaplain Kapaun 
        the Medal of Honor;
Whereas, upon bestowing the highest award for valor in the United States 
        military, President Obama stated that Chaplain Kapaun was ``an American 
        soldier who didn't fire a gun, but who wielded the mightiest weapon of 
        all: the love for his brothers so powerful that he was willing to die so 
        that they might live'';
Whereas, in addition to the Medal of Honor, Chaplain Kapaun has been awarded 
        the--

    (1) Distinguished Service Cross;

    (2) Bronze Star Medal with ``V'' Device;

    (3) Legion of Merit;

    (4) Prisoner of War Medal;

    (5) Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with 1 Bronze Service Star for 
Central Burma Campaign;

    (6) World War II Victory Medal;

    (7) Army of Occupation Medal with Japan Clasp;

    (8) Korean Service Medal with 2 Bronze Service Stars;

    (9) National Defense Service Medal; and

    (10) United Nations Service Medal;

Whereas there are more than 7,500 servicemembers who served in the Korean War 
        who remain unaccounted for;
Whereas, following the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement and as part of Operation 
        Glory, 867 sets of unidentified remains were turned over to the United 
        States and were interred as Unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery 
        of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii;
Whereas, in 2019, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency began disinterring 652 
        sets of unknown Korean War remains at the National Memorial Cemetery of 
        the Pacific; and
Whereas, in 2021, the remains of Chaplain Kapaun were exhumed from the National 
        Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and identified using dental records and 
        DNA: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) honors and recognizes Chaplain (Captain) Emil J. Kapaun 
        for--
                    (A) his heroic service to the United States of 
                America and the United States Army;
                    (B) his heroism, patriotism, and selfless service; 
                and
                    (C) the extraordinary courage, conviction, and 
                faith with which he provided comfort and reassurance to 
                his fellow soldiers;
            (2) expresses condolences to the family of Chaplain Emil 
        Kapaun;
            (3) respectfully requests that the Clerk of the House of 
        Representatives transmit an enrolled copy of this resolution to 
        the family of Chaplain Emil Kapaun; and
            (4) will never cease in the task of recovering and 
        remembering all prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action 
        from World War II, the Korean conflict, the Vietnam era, 
        hostilities during the Cold War, the Persian Gulf War, 
        Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation New Dawn, other contingency 
        operations taking place in the Middle East since September 11, 
        2001, and Operation Enduring Freedom.
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