Father Kapaun's Tree


It’s been said, “there are no atheists in a foxhole.” Some of the most courageous stories of selfless service belong to our military chaplains.

Father Emil J. Kapuan was born in Kansas in 1916 and from a young age felt a calling from God to serve in the priesthood. Ordained a Priest in 1940, Father Kapaun was called into service during World War II because of the spiritual needs of soldiers. He joined the U.S. Army as a Chaplain and traveled thousands of miles to celebrate mass with soldiers on the front lines. He’d use the hood of his jeep as his altar.

After the war, Father Kapaun used the G.I. bill to earn his master’s degree in Education from the Catholic University of America. The calling to military service remained strong and he eventually re-enlisted and landed with the First Calvary Division in Korea in 1950.

Father Kapaun was taken as a prisoner of war, twice. Despite an opportunity to escape the enemy, Father Kapaun knew where he was needed the most and allowed himself to be taken again. He never faltered administering aid and comfort to his fellow prisoners-of-war in Prison Camp No. 5. Father Kapaun endured torturous treatment, frostbite, malnutrition, and was ridiculed for his faith. Those who he saved and comforted considered him “saintly.” Father Kapaun died in that prisoner-of-war camp at the age of 35.

Among other awards for his heroic efforts, Father Kapaun is one of only five Chaplains to receive the Medal of Honor, which he was awarded posthumously in 2013. The Archdiocese of the Military presented his cause for being declared a Saint in 1993 and the canonization process continues.

A replica dog tag in honor of Father Kapaun’s military service hangs on a robust balsam-fir tree in the Korean War section of the Medal of Honor Remembrance Park. Every three years, tips from that tree will be harvested and made into veterans’ wreaths to honor the fallen across the country.

Recently, Gold Star parents Dolly and Jim Sullivan welcomed Father Brad Morin, Pastor of Saint KateriTekakwitha Parish in Calais, Maine, and other members of their parish to the tip land to share Father Kapaun’s story of military service and sacrifice and bless his family tree.