Defense Bill May Garner Chaplain Medal of Honor

Everyone already knows versions of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 remove the prohibitions on sodomy and bestiality (since reinstated), have amendments on homosexual marriage, and redefine rape.  It’s also known President Obama originally vowed to veto it over language on detainee treatment.

In yet another section of the now-passed bill, an amendment by Senators Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran of Kansas successfully inserted language that would award the Medal of Honor to Chaplain (Capt) Emil Kapaun. (The House version had an identical amendment by Rep. Mike Pompeo.)  Chaplain Kapaun is famous for his service, capture, and death in a POW camp during the Korean War.  He was previously recommended for the Medal by outgoing Secretary of the Army Pete Geren in 2009.

The President is authorized and requested to award the Medal of Honor posthumously…to Emil Kapaun for the acts of valor during the Korean War…[when] then Captain Emil Kapaun [was] a member of the 8th Cavalry Regiment during the Battle of Unsan on November 1 and 2 1950, and while a prisoner of war until his death on May 23, 1951, during the Korean War.

Via ArmyChaplaincy.com.