The Chaplain Who Stayed

Quick answer: Who was Father Emil Kapaun?

Emil Kapaun was a Catholic Army chaplain from Pilsen, Kansas. At Unsan, Korea, in November 1950, he chose to stay with about forty wounded men rather than break out, pushed aside a Chinese rifle to save Sergeant Herbert Miller, and became a prisoner. He received the Medal of Honor posthumously in 2013.

On the night of November 1, 1950, near a bend in Korea's Nammyon River, a Chinese soldier stood over wounded Sergeant Herbert Miller, rifle leveled. A man with a chaplain's cross on his helmet walked out of the smoke, pushed the rifle aside, and picked Miller up. For reasons no one has explained, the soldier let him. Father Emil Kapaun carried Miller into captivity. He'd had a way out. The 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry, had been overrun, and the able-bodied were told to break out. Kapaun had spent the battle dragging wounded men to cover under machine-gun fire. About forty wounded couldn't walk out of Unsan. He sat down among them and waited for the enemy. A farm boy from Pilsen, Kansas, ordained in 1940, he'd served in Burma-India in WWII and rejoined the Army in 1948. In 2013 he received the Medal of Honor; in 2021 his remains were identified and brought home to Wichita. Survivors called him the finest leader they ever served under.

Why it matters for leaders: Leadership, stripped of ornament, is deciding whose welfare comes first and then paying whatever that costs.

Q: When did Kapaun's remains come home?

A: They were identified in 2021 among Korean War unknowns in Honolulu, and he was laid to rest that September in the cathedral at Wichita.

Q: Why do survivors call him their finest leader?

A: He held no command and fired no shot, but he decided whose welfare came first and paid what that cost.

Read the full essay on Substack → https://heroespath.substack.com/p/the-chaplain-who-stayed

By John Fenzel, founder and CEO of Heroes' Path Foundation