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tIs2Spermitted to accompany them, land Other Services]Released Prisoners KnewHeroic Fr. EmilMunsan. — M. Sgt. Gilbert Christie, recently released prisoner o# war, remembers Father (Capt.) Emil J. Kapaun of theWichita, Kans., diocese as “themost unselfish man I have everknown.”A non-Catholic from Monte-nmunityMassichHierara:. ■■JbK*;*1IThe community Mass” might lead the laity to suppose thatpriests too easily forego their otvn private Masses, or it mightlaity and some priests underestimate the value of the WMjgfggm the Hierarchy stteted.ptivate Mass,mBlame could be attacked tothe “community Mass,” too, if it gave the impression that such a collective * gesture of unity is more important than a number of private Jlasses.j * Only by PermissionCircumstances, particularly at large, meetings of the clergy, metimes prevent priests from ering their private Masses. But Bishops should allow communityzuma, Ind., Christie told Colum-ban Father fatrick O'Connor that when the winter got extremely cold he gave some of his ownclothing away,” He saw FatherKapaun in the Death Valley” rison camp between Unsan and ok Dong in the fearful winter 1951.Father Kapaun was as good to the Protestant soldiers as to the Catholics, said Christie. Some of the men, he recalled, got mean” as conditions grew worse in thecamp, but the rougher it got the kinder Father Kapaun got/'asses99with their expresspermission in individual cases, the Hierarchy ordered. [NCWC Radio and Wire]JS WRITTENPRISONrfMary in China, when the priest was incarcerated in a nearby cell. The only way the two could fipd to carry on *carry on a religious espondence course, how-, was by the use of smallsquares of toilet tissue giventab jrisoners.The/priest would write the truths of faith on as many as 12 tissues a day and also answer the questions put to him by Mr.(iruen through the same medium.Towards the end Father Kapaun had a long beard, he related. “I heard men remark that he looked just like pictures of Christ.” It Was reported thatchaplains were the worst-treated prisoners in camp.In January or I’ebruary of 1951Father Kapaun was taken t» theprison hospital, practically deadon his feet. No one has seen himsince.A chaplain vto the Eighthcavalry regiment. Father Kapaun became a hero to his men. Once he took the wheel of a ieencarrying litters of wounded anddrove the men over a fire-sweptroad to safety. The had been killed at the wheel.When the Communists launched an attack *early in November,1950, Father Kapaun heard that there were wounded men left behind. He and a medic, Dr. Clarence L. Anderson of Long Beach, Calif., wept back through the chaos of battle i to the certaincaptivity that followed.Father Kapaun was awardedthe Bronze Star in September,1950, for carrying a wounded soldier to safety under enemy fire when no litters were available. He was later recommended for the Congressional Medal of Honorand received the DistinguishedService Cross, second highest U. S. medal for bravery.Fellow prisoners who escapedhave resolved to place a memorial to Father Kapsbn in the churchin which he served in the Wichitadiocese. [NCWC Radio and Wire]
Newspaper Details
Catholic Telegraph Register
Cincinnati, Ohio, US
Fri, May 01, 1953
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
IN, USA 01 Sep 2021
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