According to former Congressman Todd Tiahrt of Kansas, Chaplain (Capt) Emil Kapaun — who died among his fellow POWs during Korean War — will posthumously receive the US military’s highest award: the Medal of Honor. 

Former Kansas Congressman Todd Tiahrt…sent a note he had received from an officer in the Pentagon about preparations for a White House ceremony April 11. Tiahrt later posted the letter on his Facebook page, which said that Kapaun also will be honored April 12 at the Pentagon.

President Obama will reportedly present the Medal to his family in early April.  The family will be joined by other distinguished guests: 

The Pentagon is expected to invite several of Kapaun’s fellow former prisoners of war to attend the ceremony. They survived horrific conditions in the prison camp after they were captured in the first battles against the Chinese Army in late 1950, shortly after China entered the Korean War.

The Kansas Congressional delegation has lobbied for years for Kapaun to receive the Medal of Honor, as have his fellow POWs:

Soldiers like Mike Dowe, William Funchess, Robert Wood, Robert McGreevy and Herb Miller, most of them Protestants, have spent decades writing letters or giving interviews describing repeated acts of bravery by Kapaun. They said he repeatedly ran through machine gun fire, dragging wounded soldiers to safety during the first months of the war.

They said his most courageous acts followed in a prisoner of war camp, where Kapaun died in May 1951. They said he saved hundreds of soldiers’ lives using faith and the skills honed on his family’s farm near Pilsen.

Chaplains serve all US troops in ways many cannot fathom.  Chaplain Kapaun died in that service.

While some may think it unusual for a Chaplain to receive the Nation’s highest military honor, Kapaun will actually join a brotherhood of dozens of chaplains who have received the Medal of Honor as they served their country and their fellow troops in harm’s way.  Many of them gave their lives in combat — despite not carrying a weapon themselves.

Funny thing, that.  Despite such a historical record, one US Army atheist actually claims chaplains are under orders to stay away from combat — and also seems to think a chaplain’s presence negates the existence of combat to begin with.

Read more about Chaplain Kapaun.

Also at the Military Times.

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