Remembering 2 Great Military Chaplains

Veterans Day comes and goes. We take one day a year to honor the servicemen and servicewomen from the armed forces who are still with us.

Veterans deserve a day set aside in honor of them, but their heroism and sacrifices should be admired and mirrored all year long.

There are two military chaplains whose witness exemplifies everything it means to be a Christian in the military. Learning about their words and deeds can aid us in becoming more courageous and faithful.

Father Vincent Capodanno was a Navy chaplain serving Marines during the Vietnam War. Nicknamed “The Grunt Padre” and eulogized in a book of the same name, he was always close to the Marines he served. He endeavored to care for them even in the thickets of battle.

Capodanno regularly said that he wanted to be “God’s light to the shadows throughout the world.”

This is the same mission that every Christian soldier is called to embark upon. Soldiers are willing to go to the darkest of places in order for others to live in the light of freedom and safety.

Capodanno made a point to spend time with men as they were dying, offering them the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick or simply being present to give them hope amidst seemingly insurmountable circumstances.

He said, “To remain faithful, patient and hopeful in times of great suffering is truly the test of our love of God and trust in Him as our Father.”

Faith is the strongest remedy against the temptation to despair. God never abandons us, and no moment is unredeemable. Because of this truth, Capodanno was able to see things from a divine perspective.

Capodanno died in battle while ministering to Marines. Despite being wounded on the battlefield, he returned several times, knowing that the gunfire was intense. Seeking to be present to a man facing direct machine-gun fire, he was shot 27 times and died. His dying words echo his life’s work: “Stay calm, Marine. God is with us all this day.”

Father Emil Kapaun was a military chaplain during the Korean War. He put thousands of miles on his military Jeep in order to celebrate Mass with as many soldiers as possible. Well-known photos were taken of him praying with soldiers, with his Jeep behind him.

He was also a man who transmitted deep peace in the toughest of situations. “The world,” he said, “regards peace as freedom from suffering, freedom from worry and care, freedom from want, freedom from fighting … But the peace which God gives is a gift which exists even in suffering or even in time of war.”

For Kapaun, the most important fight was to pursue God through the wreckage of war and to bring him to others.

 “Some people regard the meek man as one who will not put up a fight for anything but will let others run over him,” he said.

“In fact, from human experience we know that to accomplish anything good a person must make an effort; and making an effort is putting up a fight against the obstacles.”

After a losing battle, Kapaun and the other survivors were taken prisoner. Seconds after being captured, Kapaun saw a Chinese soldier preparing to execute a severely wounded American sergeant, Herbert Miller. With complete disregard for his own safety, Kapaun pushed the enemy soldier’s rifle aside and picked up Miller. Shocked by the chaplain’s sheer audacity, the soldier chose not to shoot, and Kapaun carried Miller away, saving his life. Miller survived the war and spoke often of Kapaun.

Kapaun died in the prisoner-of-war camp before the end of the war. He was known as a father figure to the men, doing whatever he could to brighten their spirits and support them.

For both Capodanno and Kapaun, faith drove them to sacrifice and become channels of hope. As we honor our veterans, let us consider how we can be people of sacrifice and faith as well.

If they could trust in God and love others in battle, we can certainly do so in the comfort of our own freedoms.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of the Daily Signal.

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