Korean War Chaplain may be first Medal of Honor Recipient and Saint

Posthumous MoH for Korean War Catholic priest
The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Feb 23, 2013

WICHITA, Kan. — A Roman Catholic priest from Kansas will be awarded the nation's highest military award for bravery for his actions during the Korean War, according to former Kansas Congressman Todd Tiahrt.

Tiahrt told The Wichita Eagle that Emil Kapaun will be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Obama in April. Tiahrt also posted a letter from a Pentagon official on his Facebook page, saying that Kapaun will be honored April 12 at the Pentagon.

Kapaun, a priest from Pilsen, Kan., who died in 1951, has been celebrated for his actions during the Korean War. The Vatican has also classified Kapaun as a Servant of God, a step in the process to sainthood.

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 battles against the Chinese Army in late 1950, shortly after China entered the Korean War.

Kapaun grew up in Pilsen, in Marion County, and served there as a parish priest before joining the Army. He served in World War II and in Korea before he was captured. Kapaun died at the prisoner of war camp hospital seven months after he was first taken captive by the Chinese in 1950.
read more here