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Fr. Emil Kapaun’s remains have been returned to Kansas, where a funeral Mass was held for the Servant of God. A crowd gathered in Wichita to pay their respects to the Medal of Honor recipient. He was later laid to rest at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
It was a day no one in Kansas thought would ever come. For more than 70 years, the location of Fr. Kapaun’s remains was unknown. It was not until 2021 that his remains were identified during the U.S. government’s ongoing Korean War Disinterment Project. Fr. Kapaun, it was found, had been resting in a Hawaiian military cemetery since the 1950s.
Fr. Kapaun’s mortal remains were returned to Wichita with all the pomp of a returning war hero. For indeed, Fr. Kapaun was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, in 2013. Military representatives bore the flag-draped casket on a horse-drawn carriage through the town to Hartman Arena, where his funeral service was held. According to KSN News, thousands gathered for the event, as can be seen in the video above.
Father David Lies, Vicar General of the Diocese of Wichita, was on hand to give a touching homily. A natural orator, Fr. Lies wove local and Catholic humor into his address as he remembered the many great deeds of the deceased. He told the story of when the diocese first learned that Fr. Kapaun’s remains had been discovered:
Fr. Lies went on to note that at the time he and his fellow priests had thought it was more likely that Fr. Kapaun had been named a saint. They never dreamed that Fr. Kapaun’s remains would be identified after seven decades. The Vicar General went on to call the revelation a blessing, especially after several years of world pandemic and social conflict.
In his homily, the priest went on to remember Fr. Kapaun’s love of cigars and how he smoked a pipe, which he was often photographed with. He highlighted one photo in which Fr. Kapaun, in his military helmet, holds up a broken pipe. The pipe was hit by sniper fire that was most likely meant for the priest.
Fr. Kapaun’s predilection for tobacco continued even in his captivity, where he somehow was able to smuggle in his broken pipe. Fr. Lies recalled a tale of how he used it to bring some comfort to his fellow prisoners, after he was captured and sent to a North Korean POW camp.
Fr. Lies admitted that this seems mundane, but he explained that it “reveals a quality about father that was noticed and mentioned repeatedly by so many who knew him.” This, in fact, was that he was a normal man, a “man’s man” as some called him, and a priest who put his flock before himself.
During his time as a POW, Fr. Kapaun continued to tend to the spiritual needs of his men. This task he completed even in the face of torture and “brainwashing tactics of his captors,” which he resisted. This example, Fr. Lies said, was inspirational to him as a priest and a model which he strives to emulate. Fr. Lies said:
The entire Mass can be viewed in the video above. Fr. Lies's excellent homily begins at about the 51-minute mark. Then, take a look at the video below to see the military procession that ushered Fr. Kapaun’s remains to a new resting place, within a newly made altar of repose at Wichita’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
