CLEMSON, S.C. — “Would you care for a drink of water?” Father Emil Kapaun, clad in his worn prison uniform and sitting beside a small fire, extended his arm to offer a roughly crafted tin pan full of melted snow. His fellow POW, Lt. William Funchess, accepted the gift with gratitude.

Sixty-four years later, Bill Funchess still remembers the priest’s kind offer. “It was the first water I’d drunk since I’d been captured three months earlier,” Funchess explained from his home in Clemson, S.C. “Until Father Kapaun climbed the fence into our camp with his handmade pan, we’d survived by eating the frozen snow.”

Father Kapaun, a U.S. military chaplain, and Funchess — of the 24th Infantry Division, a Methodist — were captured by Chinese communist forces in November 1950, during the Korean War.

About a week after being taken captive, Father Kapaun scaled the fence into the camp where Funchess lived to care for the sick and wounded prisoners there. Funchess was inspired by the priest’s resolute sense of mission. Shortly after, Chinese officers realized that Funchess was an officer living among enlisted men, and he was relocated to an officers’ camp, again separated from Father Kapaun.

But in April 1951, the door to Funchess’ shack was thrown open by Chinese guards, and a man was thrown to the floor. It was Father Kapaun, who was suffering from a blood clot in his right leg and was having difficulty walking.

The priest, the only Catholic whom Funchess had ever gotten to know, was an inspiration to his fellow prisoners. When he was able to walk, he cared for the other POWs with no regard for their faith background; Catholic, Protestant or atheist all benefited from Father Kapaun’s kindness.

He would lead prayers for both the Catholics and the non-Catholics. Funchess reiterated, as though reminding himself: “He did many good Christian-type things for the POWs, with no regard for their religious background.”

However, Father Kapaun’s health continued to deteriorate. When the priest was no longer able to walk, Funchess cared for his wounded friend.

Their time together was short. In the second or third week of May 1951, Chinese officers and guards burst into the hut and dragged Father Kapaun out. They were, they said in broken English, taking him to the “hospital” — or to what prisoners more realistically called the “death camp,” since most of the prisoners who were taken there never left to rejoin their fellow prisoners: Funchess recalled only two prisoners who had survived and came out of the hospital. There was no word for several days; finally, the POWs learned that their beloved priest had died on May 23, 1951.

The Diocese of Wichita, Kan., and the Vatican have begun the formal process that could lead to Father Kapaun’s canonization. In 1993, Father Kapaun received the title of “Servant of God.”  The next two steps would be beatification and canonization, if the cause proceeds.

On April 11, 2013, nearly 62 years after his death, Father Emil Kapaun was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama. Receiving the award was Father Kapaun’s nephew. The president, in presenting the award, said, “This is an amazing story. Father Kapaun has been called a shepherd in combat boots. His fellow soldiers, who felt his grace and his mercy, called him a saint, a blessing from God. Today, we bestow another title on him — recipient of our nation’s highest military decoration. I know one of Father Kapaun’s comrades spoke for a lot of folks here when he said, ‘It’s about time.’”

 

Kathy Schiffer writes from Southfield, Michigan. U.S. Army Twitter photo