Veterans Day: Father Emil Kapaun, the Saint in the Foxhole | History — Transcript

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1. 0:01father Emil Kapaun a US Army chaplain
2. 0:04from Kansas was named a servant of God
3. 0:06in 1993 by the Vatican
4. 0:08the first step to sainthood in 2013 he
5. 0:13posthumously received the military's
6. 0:14highest decoration his fellow soldiers
7. 0:17who felt His grace and His mercy called
8. 0:21him a saint a blessing from God today we
9. 0:25bestow another title on him the Medal of
10. 0:28Honor in 1950 father Kapaun was called
11. 0:33to duty in the Korean War
12. 0:35that's when Chinese forces entered the
13. 0:37war with a massive surprise attack in
14. 0:40the chaos dodging bullets and explosions
15. 0:42father Kapaun race between foxholes out
16. 0:46past the front lines and into no-man's
17. 0:49land dragging the wounded to safety when
18. 0:52the enemy broke through and the combat
19. 0:54was hand-to-hand he carried on when all
20. 0:59seemed lost father Kapaun negotiated a
21. 1:01peaceful surrender for days he was
22. 1:04forced on a death march with his fellow
23. 1:06soldiers to the PIO wks deep in the
24. 1:09North Korean prison camps men would
25. 1:11freeze to death in their sleep but
26. 1:13father Kapaun pushed on foraging for
27. 1:16food when none was given he made pots to
28. 1:19boil water washed in clean wounds he
29. 1:22offered the clothes off his very back
30. 1:25the guards ridiculed his devotion they
31. 1:28took his clothes and made him stand in
32. 1:29the freezing cold for hours yet he never
33. 1:31lost his faith if anything had only grew
34. 1:34stronger that faith that they might be
35. 1:38delivered from evil that they could make
36. 1:40at home was perhaps the greatest gift to
37. 1:42those men looking back one of them said
38. 1:45that that is what kept a lot of us alive
39. 1:48yet for father Kapaun the horrific
40. 1:50conditions took their toll that's when
41. 1:52the guards saw their chance to finally
42. 1:54rid themselves on this priest and hope
43. 1:59they came for him and over the protests
44. 2:02and tears of the men who loved him the
45. 2:04guard sent him to a death house it had
46. 2:06even been his faith held from I'm going
47. 2:11to wear I've always wanted to go he told
48. 2:14his brothers and when I get up there
49. 2:15I'll say a prayer for all of them
50. 2:18and then as he was taken away he did
51. 2:21something remarkable he blessed the
52. 2:23guards
53. 2:25forgive them he said for they know not
54. 2:29what they do
55. 2:32two days later in that house of death
56. 2:34father Kapaun breathed his last breath
57. 2:43he was just 35 years old two long years
58. 2:50later the men he cared for would be free
59. 2:52they kept the faith they did not forget
60. 2:55a group of our POWs emerged carrying a
61. 2:59large wooden crucifix nearly four feet
62. 3:03tall they had spent months on it
63. 3:06secretly collecting firewood carving it
64. 3:10the cross and the body using radio wire
65. 3:14for a crown of course
66. 3:17it was tribute to their friend their
67. 3:20Chaplin their fellow prisoner who would
68. 3:24touch their souls and save their lives
69. 3:27father amyl department
70. 3:34[Music]
71. 3:49[Music]
72. 3:53you
73. 4:04you