You're listening to a special Best of Veterans Radio program.
This program first aired on April 6, 2013.
You can listen to this and other Veterans Radio programs
by going to veteransradio.net and clicking on our archives.
Now sit back and enjoy this great and amazing story
of Father Emil Kapaun, chaplain United States Army,
a servant of God.
All across America and around the world, this is Veterans Radio.
This is Veterans Radio.
And now your host for today's program, Bob Gould.
Today's Veterans Radio program is dedicated to the men and women
who have served in our now serving in the Republic of South Korea.
We dedicate this program to you.
Yes, and good morning out there to our listening audience,
international, national listening right here to Veterans Radio.
By the way, this is a very, very, very, all of our programs are special,
but this one is a very close one to our heart.
We've been following the story of Father Emil Capone.
And before we get into that, I'd like to introduce today in the studio with me as guest.
First of all, today he's my wingman.
He's the co-pilot, right?
Isn't that what it would be there in the chopper?
Yes, absolutely. I'd be a Peter pilot today.
Well, of course, you all recognize that voice, right?
That's Dale Throneberry. Let's hear it for Dale.
Hey, hey. Good morning, everybody, and welcome to Veterans Radio.
And Bob, I'm really excited about this program.
I was trying to go back through our archives and see the first time that we talked about Father Capone.
I believe it was probably somewhere around five years ago.
I was going to say five years ago.
It was the first time you did a story about him.
And the way it's developed over the last five years,
not only the Medal of Honor, but also the Road to Sainthood, which we'll talk about later on.
But I'm fascinated.
And I congratulate you for putting this program together already before we even get it going.
Before we even get it going? That's right.
And with me to my left is Mr. Tom Loewe of the WDO Development Department.
Tom, welcome to Veterans Radio.
That's right. Yeah, listen, it's an honor to be here today.
Oh, it's an honor to have you, too.
I don't think you sat on that side.
No, I think it's the first time on the program.
Oh, yes, this is the first time I've ever been on Veterans Radio.
Oh, well, we're very honored.
And again, I'm very honored to be here as well.
And this is great.
Just so you folks know, I'm the Development Director for Ave Maria Radio
and the Veterans Radio records right here in our studio.
So it's a double honor for us.
So we're really pleased to be here today.
Well, very much having you here today.
It was a time of change five years after a great world war.
No cell phones, color, flat screen TVs, laptops, internet, or social media.
It was June 25, 1950. That's where it all began at a small village
along the 38th parallel in a country called Korea.
Located between China and Japan, Korea is known as the Belgium of the East.
Uncharted land. Who knew the events of that date that would begin to try the souls of men
and the soul of our country?
We were at peace, starting our lives in a brave new world.
But to the soldiers about to begin battle in a faraway place, spiritual comfort rules.
Father Emil Capon of Pills and Kansas answered the call.
He was a priest of the Catholic faith.
He wanted to serve his fellow soldiers, and so it started.
Today we celebrate the sacrifice and compassion of this remarkable man.
Father Emil Capon.
Welcome once again to Veterans Radio.
I'm Bob Gould, your host today.
On the line with me is Father John Hotsy, who began all this folks.
Back about six years ago, I received an email from Father Hotsy.
That outlined the story of Father Capon, a priest who died in captivity, P.O.W.,
in the Korean War. And again, the Korean War is known as the Forgotten War.
And probably this whole story was buried somewhere.
But there were people keeping it alive besides Father Hotsy.
Father John Hotsy is the vicar of the Archdiocese of Wichita.
Father Hotsy, welcome once again to Veterans Radio.
Thank you. Good to be here.
Well, it's good to have you. Tell us. Tell us now.
Father Capon is about to receive the Medal of Honor on April the 11th at a White House ceremony.
And fill us in on that. I can't even begin to give it justice.
And I'd like it to come from you because you've been the one that has been in the forefront with us.
Well, I'm not really the one that's responsible for it.
I'd have to say that the people that were responsible for it were his fellow prisoners of war.
Because while I started working on it a few years ago, they've been working on it since 1953.
When the prisoners got out of the prison camp, it was prison camp number five that Father Capon was interred in.
The moment they got out of the prison camp, they started telling whoever would listen about the story of Father Capon.
They were telling both military officials and they were also telling search officials about the great deeds that he had done.
And they're the ones that have kept it up through the years. I mean, they've been waiting for this for 60-some years, telling the story of Father Capon.
The amazing part about the story is while Father Capon was in the prison camp for just seven months, these prisoners were in that same prison camp for another two and a half years after Father Capon had passed away.
And even after those two and a half years of suffering through everything that you suffer through in his prison camp, they were still remembering fondly of Father Capon and the work that he had done.
Most of them will say that they would not have made it out of the prison camp if it hadn't been for Father Capon.
And that sounds kind of strange because like I say, Father Capon died about two and a half years before the war.
So these men were freed from the prison camp but they'll all talk about Father Capon instilling this hope in them, a hope that they can survive, a hope that they will be able to make it back to the United States and also make it back to their country.
So really these are the men that had been telling the story of Father Capon all these years.
And I've just been able, in the more recent years, I've just been able to help out and help push that forward a little bit.
So they're the ones that have really been promoting Father Capon's cause, both for his sainted but also for him to receive the Medal of Honor.
Now we just have a phone call and I'm going to interrupt you just for a moment, not the story but just as a moment we have on the line with us Archbishop Timothy B. Broglieau who was born in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
Now by the way Archbishop, I want to be sure and get that received an email from a friend of mine, Mr. Bob Crudy, who was in high school with you and graduated with you at St. Ignatius and he said, go Wildcats.
Well that's very good. Thank you for that message.
But I want to thank you for your time. I know you're on a very busy schedule and a tight schedule for giving us a call this morning. Let me just read this very quickly.
Born in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, attended St. Anne Elementary School in Cleveland Heights and of course St. Ignatius High School.
He was a professor of arts in classics at Boston College and an STB in theology and a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Georgian University in Rome, Italy.
There's Tom Lowy just very, yeah, yeah, does all this ring a bell for you?
Well, yes, this is Tom Lowy. I'm the development director here at Auburn Maria Radio and I was just listening to Bob as you were reading the credits basically for the Archbishop how deeply informed this man is.
It's really nice. It's really nice to have him with us.
Oh, to have him on the program. But it goes a little further. So let me just outline this.
On November 19, 2007, Archbishop Brogliello was named the fourth Archbishop of the Military Services, the United States Army and installed on January 25, 2008 at the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul.
Welcome to Veterans Radio Archbishop.
Well, thank you very much. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you and speak with the listening audience.
Well, we'd like you to expand on your role with Father Capon and this beautiful day and this day that we are celebrating.
And we would like to welcome you to go ahead and give your feelings about this.
Well, I think Father Hotze has already given a very cogent explanation of this honor and I think it's important to remember that what Father Capon did for his fellow prisoners of war was really an expression of who he was as a Catholic priest and as a military chaplain.
He was clearly a man for others. He was clearly a man who put into practice the de-attitudes. He lived to make real what we say we believe.
And I think that's essential and I think it's also a good reminder of the fundamental values which are Judeo-Christian values on which our country is built.
And Father Capon is a magnificent and a heroic expression of those values and reminds us of what is at the basis of our nation and why our nation has such a great and memorable history.
Absolutely. And I was speaking with Tom this morning at breakfast and talked about a gentleman I interviewed who was on the 6th of June 1944, 0130 hours on a C-47 ready to jump into the darkness over France.
And I asked him, I said, what were you thinking about thinking that well maybe a pension, my dog, my family. He said I didn't want to let my buddy down.
Yeah, exactly.
It wasn't about all the glories but it was about letting his buddy down and that's what it's like to be in the service and that's where Father Capon was able to, he was going to serve his fellow man. It was that calling. It was there. It was his time.
It was, I believe, no pun intended to be ordained that it would be on that particular time. Do you want to comment on that, Archbishop?
Well, I think that's very true. Even his own decision to stay with his fellow prisoners of war and to minister to them, I think he felt that was the logical expression of who he was.
And certainly he had already served as a chaplain during the Second World War and then to go back into active duty was this, I think it was, he was consumed by this desire to take care of his fellow soldiers.
Obviously, regardless of their faith conviction, regardless of who they were, it was more an expression of who he was.
And during these times, and there always have been trying times in our country and in the Catholic faith, etc.
But it was his calling to not beat a cliche, but it was there and there was going to be no stopping. This was it. This was his epiphany. This was what he was put on this earth to do and he knew that.
He knew this was the path that he was going to take.
That's for sure. And he rose to the occasion. I think he rose to the occasion until he drew his last breath. And that's a tremendous tribute to him and it's a tremendous tribute to the armed forces as well.
He was not going to let his buddy down, his fellow soldiers and fellow peonauts. Tom, you have a comment.
Your Excellency, I'm not as familiar with the story of Father Capon as others are, but I do have a couple of questions.
I'm curious about his ministry in the camps themselves. What do you know specifically about that? Here's one question right off the bat.
Was he able to celebrate Mass? Did his prison wards, did they allow that type of a thing? What kind of service was he actually doing within the prison camp?
To my best of my knowledge, he was able to celebrate Mass. Whether that was clandestine or not, I don't know. But I do know that in one of the books that I read about him, there was the story of after his death one of the prison guards had the pattern that he used.
And I think one of the prisoners took it from him. So that would seem to indicate that he celebrated Mass and was able to do that. Father Hotze might have a more complete response to that question.
I do know that he certainly would have ministered to the Catholic POWs to the best of his ability, and that of course took care of the others as well.
Well, thank you. And it just seems to me that his service there, his ministry, was memorable. There's a lot of, whether they're Catholic or not, the stories that come back are pretty remarkable.
They certainly are. And they indicated that he was there for everyone. And even his ability to kill for extra food stuff so that the men kept up their strength to the best of his ability, I think that's also a tribute to his willingness to serve others.
I'm sure he was devoted to St. Dismas, the good thief.
Well, we have quite a guest list today, and we want to thank you Archbishop Roblio for taking time and a very busy schedule to give us a call this morning. I know it's very early, and I hope you've had your cup of coffee and ready to go and give it a day.
And thank you again for being on the program. We'd like to have you come back. Isn't that right, Dale?
Absolutely.
And what's the point about, let's see if I get this right, that the Center for Military Services will have to talk a little bit more about that at a future program we'd like to have you on. Once again, very good.
Thank you for your time and a very busy day, and God bless.
God bless you too. Thank you very much.
Bob, I wanted to just jump in here. I've been reading this little pamphlet that was written by a Lieutenant Ray Dow, and it talks about Father Kapahn being in the prisoner of war camp.
And of course, in North Korea, it's freezing. The conditions are just horrible, and we're not going to get into all that too much.
It happened to be the coldest winter of 100 years.
I know. It was one of those. But this man had such compassion for his fellow prisoners that every morning it said that he would round up a pan full of hot water and come walking into the prison hooch that they were in cheerfully saying,
coffee everyone and pour a little hot water in everyone's bowl and they would pretend they were drinking coffee. And so his goal, obviously, there was to keep the spirits up.
And you were in combat, Dale. So you know how important that is to have that mental well-being and to have that.
Right. I think the idea here, not ever being a POW, of course, but just the idea of somebody watching out for you, that would be so important, I would think.
And I think that the books and all of the guests that we've had on Veterans Radio that were POWs always talked about the spirituality of their mindset, that they had to get into this mindset that there was this power greater than them than they,
that was watching over them. And they all did this. In fact, quick promo.
Next week, we're going to talk to a POW from the Vietnam era. And in his book, he talks about that, the power of his belief system.
Father Hodze, would you like to comment on the idea of celebrating Mass out there while he was a POW? Do you want to give us some of those details?
Well, sure. Actually, I think he was only able to celebrate Mass once when he was there in the prison camp and that was soon after they were interred.
And I don't even know that he was able to complete the Mass because at first, when they were starting to set up to celebrate Mass, the guards kind of ignored him.
And then when they realized what was going on, I think they either tried to stop them or they didn't stop him from finishing the celebration of Mass.
But that didn't stop Father Capon, though. I mean, he continued to have prayer services. And usually what they would do is, or what he would do is as he was going around,
if he saw an opportunity to have like an impromptu prayer service, he would just gather people around. That were there.
And all of the men will say that he took care of not only the Catholics, but he took care of everybody.
He said, it didn't matter if you were a Protestant, it didn't matter if you were a Jew, it didn't matter if you were a Muslim, it didn't matter if you didn't believe in God.
That went with Father Capon who was around. Everybody joined him in prayers. One man, a Protestant man, kind of laughed about it.
And he said, yeah, he said, well, you're there in the hood. And he said, here we were, Protestants, Jews, nonbelievers, all praying the rosary with Father Capon because he was there bringing that sense of hope to us.
So he would have these impromptu prayer sessions. But also, I think, probably what the men remember more so.
Soon after they were in the prison camp, they separated the officers from the enlisted men. And it was to do what you had just talked about them doing.
They wanted to break the morale of the men. They knew that they could probably break the morale of the enlisted men easier than they could the officers because the officers were older and the enlisted men being in their late teens and early 20s.
But that didn't stop Father Capon from going to minister to the enlisted men either because at night he would get up and he would break into, or I break out of the officers compound and go into the enlisted men's compound.
And they would talk about him going from hut to hut to check on the men. They said that he would come in and he would check first, check to see if everybody was doing all right or if he needed to make sure a doctor got to them the next day.
If he had any food that he had been able to seal or take from the rations of the North Koreans or the Chinese, he would pass out the food that he had for him.
And one guy said, Father Capon was known for having a pipe. And they said that he would take his pipe and he would line up his pipe and he said he would take a puff of the pipe and then pass it around so everybody could have a puff of the pipe.
Could have a little bit of tobacco. I love it.
The funny part is one man was talking to me and he said, Father, I think we had tobacco for the first couple of weeks. But after that he said, I know he had ran out of tobacco and he said, I have no idea why you're smoking.
Could have been what, but it was in a way that's like sharing communion.
Exactly.
And it's a way of bonding. He was, I don't want to use the word obsessed. He was driven. There we go. He was driven. No, obsession. No, no, we don't want to use. He was driven and there was no stopping him no matter what.
The Chinese, the North Koreans, there was no stopping him. Comment on that, Father?
Well, if I go back to my story a little, I think it will demonstrate it. The guys say that after he passed the pipe around, he would say, well, let's pray. And he said he would leave them in prayer and then he would go from that hat to the next hat.
But he would not stop, not stop doing that. I mean, he would do it at night. One guy asked me, he said he'd, I don't even know if he ever slept. He said it seemed like he was always on the go, always doing something, always having that drive to go out and do help others.
I did hear one story. It was from a commanding officer of his once and he said this was prior to them being captured. And he said oftentimes he said I had time. He said I had a hard time sleeping at night. He said I would be worried about what was going on and what battles were going to be coming our way and things.
So he said he would often get up and walk around the camp at night. And he said more often than not, he said he would go and he would see some light on in the hut that sooner or sooner or sooner than anybody there and he would go and he said it would be Father Capon and he'd be in their writing letters home to the families of the soldiers that had passed away.
They said he just kept going and kept doing things. And when you look at it and you hear the stories, I mean people that helped me gather information that we sent over to Rome. One man said he said, well, he said I don't know how he was able to accomplish everything that he had done.
And this man said that he had taken the time and he had made a timeline from stories that we had heard of Father Capon. And there are all things where he had done things right after the another. And it was like how could you possibly do all of this stuff?
So you're right. I mean he was a driven man and he was driven by his need to help his fellow soldier.
No stopping, no stopping, nothing, no, not the weather, not the brutality and fact that usually steals people even more to resist tyranny and to resist discomfort and to prevail.
Right now on the line, stay on the line, please, Father John. Okay, on the line with me.
Bob reaches over is Mr Roy Vensel. He's an international award winning reporter. He's now working with the Wichita Eagle and he's written a couple of books.
The latest one, the second book was published last month by, we'll get this, St. Ignace Press. I should probably spell that, IGNATIUS. And it's called The Miracle of Father Capon. You're all going to want this.
You have a veteran in the family. You're going to want this. You're going to want this book. In fact, I gave a copy of it to Tom and he's had a chance to look at it. Isn't that a wonderful book?
It really is. It's quite beautiful. It's lavishly illustrated. No doubt about it. And the amount of information that's in it is very carefully put together.
This man has done a great job of telling this story. So it's really good that he's here with us today so we can talk.
Absolutely. And we have the author. So currently he is with the Wichita Eagle. He is the author of The Miracle of Father Capon. It's also on DVD. Veterans Radio, welcome to Roy Vensel.
Glad to be here.
Glad we could have you there all the way to Wichita. And what's the weather like down there?
It's just a little nice and windy and cool.
It's a typical April day in Kansas. Yeah. I was down there at Fort Riley. I know it well. Roy, why don't you fill us in? We've only got a couple minutes before the halfway break.
But just give us a little something about how you put all this together, the DVD and the book.
We started working on it with one phone call to some priest named John Hotsey.
Yeah, we've heard of him.
I had some preconceived notions and didn't want to do the story, but I went to that priest and he straightened me out, at least on that.
And we started working on it. He was the one who told me, this really got us going.
I thought it was just another old anniversary story that my editors were trying to make me do.
But when I called him at their suggestion, I found out from him that the Medal of Honor investigation had heated up again.
And the Sainthood investigation had heated up again quite a bit. And these two parallel investigations were really getting very interesting.
And the other preconceived notion I had was, well, how am I going to do this? It's been close to 60 years. Surely his friends are a little too old to help me out enough.
And he assured me now he had talked to them. A bunch of them were still alive, still very vigorous and still very irritated that there was no Medal of Honor for a guy that they had seen up close do everything and beyond that made him very deserving.
So we spent six months. My friend Travis Hine, a great photojournalist, and I went all over the country and interviewed some of these guys.
It was probably one of the more interesting and moving stories we've ever worked on together or separately.
And they filled us in about what he did. And it took us six months. We put that together and then about a year and a half or so later, St. Ignatius Press got in touch with us
and said, you know, we kind of like your story. Would you mind turning it into a book? And I thought about that really long and hard.
And then, okay, fine. We now have a book with a lot more information than we had in the 2009 story. And now all of this is happening just at the same time the book is coming out.
So we're kind of pleased with that.
Well, we'll get to that in just a moment. I can't believe the timing on this. This guy is really good folks, right? We've got 20 seconds before we go to our half time break.
So Roy, stay on the line, yes. And we'll want to give that information. Now you can buy the DVD and the book.
And we're going to go to a very, very quick break. Right, Nina? And she's pushing all kinds of buttons.
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Yeah, I like that. I was listening to that this morning and I said that's going to be so appropriate because it is a new beginning.
That's from a CD called Renew. And it really does make you feel that way. And that's exactly what we're doing.
We're renewing life. The story of Father Emil Capone. And on the line with me is Father John Hotzee, the vicar of the Archdiocese of Wichita.
And Mr. Roy Winsall, who is a national award-winning reporter with the Wichita Eagle.
I know that when you were doing your research for the book and for the DVD, you did meet with those that were right there with Father Capone.
And what did you very briefly tell us what that was like to meet with these people?
Well, I had a lot of experience in the past interviewing veterans of all the wars back to World War II. And they're very tough. Soldiers usually don't want to talk very much about these things.
They don't want to talk about the terrible things as much because they just don't think anybody will get it. They've never had to do it.
And some of them are traumatized in one way or another and they just don't want to go there. So they just try to go on with their lives.
But in this case, they had gone through terrible things, these guys. And they didn't really want to talk about themselves.
They did really vehemently want to talk about him because they walked out of that camp in 1953 determined to try to get somebody's attention and make this ceremony that's finally going to happen this coming week to make it happen.
And it took them 60 years. They were a little irritated with that. But they did it. So it was very compelling to talk to these guys.
Well, we have one of them on the air right now about standing by Mr. Bill Funches.
Mr. William Bill Funches, who was with the 24th Infantry Division in Korea, he was one of the ones thrown right literally into the breach, the soldiers to stop the onslaught of the Republic of North Korea.
And then the Chinese came in in November of 1950. And that was when Mr. Funches, along with thousands of other soldiers, airmen, etc., were captured.
And Father Kapon was also in November of 1950. Bill Funches, welcome to Veterans Radio.
Thank you. I'm glad to be here, sir.
Well, we're glad to have you. And please tell us. Tell us, Father Kapon, there he is standing there. And you have a whole chance now to describe that.
What was his stature? What was he like?
Father Kapon was a great man. He always stood out in the crowd. And I recall the first time that I really saw him. We were on the march together, but I was wounded and I was the last one in the column.
And so I did not meet him on the march, but sometime later in the camp, I saw a man melting snow. And I walked over to see what he was doing. And he introduced himself, his father, Ammo Kapon.
And he asked me if I would like to have a drink of water. And I said, yes, sir, I have not had any water to drink since the day I was captured.
And it's been three months. And so he gave me the first drink of water that I had after I was captured. But he was a great man. He was always taking risks and chances in order to help someone else.
He would go out, he would scrounge things that we could use. He would scrounge food for us. He would attend to the wounds of the sick and the wounded. And he's a very caring individual.
And I want to say again, he was perhaps the greatest man that I've ever met.
Wow, that's really saying something. Tom, you're shaking your head after hearing something like that.
It's very moving to hear stories of this man's goodness and how the simple expression of goodness, a drink of water, how that can make a sip of water, how that changes a man's life in a positive way, taking care of the wounded.
And just looking and seeing that somebody is in need. So thank you for your testimony, sir. I mean, this is terrific to hear. And I'm sure that there was a very difficult time in your life, too. I'm absolutely positive of that.
So yeah, I'd like to know more. I really would, you know.
Well, Bill, go ahead and tell us a little bit more. Give us some more stories of what Camp 5.
Well, at the time he gave me my drink of water, the Chinese and North Koreans did not realize I was an officer.
And sometime later, they moved me into the office of Compound. And I observed Father Capon from time to time, slipping across the barbed wire fence at great risk to himself.
And he would go over into the enlisted men's compound and take care of their needs.
He would offer prayers not only to the Catholics, but to the non-Catholics, the Protestants, like myself.
And we were very appreciative of that.
Now, Father Capon was living in a separate room from me at first, but later on, the Chinese and the North Koreans apparently wanted to isolate Father Capon from the Catholics.
So they threw him into the room in my shack.
There was no place for Father Capon in the room, so I made everybody move over and I gave Father Capon the place that I was using on the floor.
It was about 15 inches wide, and so I slept and spent my time lying on the floor beside Father Capon for the next five or six weeks.
Now, when he came in, he had a blood clot, apparently on his leg, and he could not walk.
And so I took it upon myself and sometimes with the help of other POWs to take care of Father Capon's daily needs.
We were able to find in the rubble the top half of a destroyed pot-bellied stove made out of cast iron.
Father Capon had showed us how to make these little pans using tin, so we made a little pan.
We put it inside that pot-bellied stove and we used that for his toilet.
He had trouble eating, so sometimes we had to spoon feed Father Capon.
But various men would come into the room from time to time to speak to Father Capon or ask Father Capon to pray for them.
And Father Capon always responded.
It was not only the Catholics coming in, but it was also the non-Catholics coming in to consult with Father Capon.
And I might point out that he was in my room for about five weeks, all of April it seems like, and maybe a week or two in May of 1951.
And then one day the Chinese came in suddenly.
They just burst in four or five or six of them and they said, we are taking Capon to the hospital.
And those were the worst words that I could have possibly have heard.
They referred to the building on top of the hill as the hospital.
We called it the death house because whoever went into the death house very few came out.
Mike Dow came out for one, but we knew what was going to happen.
And we tried our best to prevent the Chinese from taking Father Capon out of my room.
I begged them, I told them I would take care of them, but they wanted no part of that.
The Catholics came in, they raised the ruckus with the Chinese, trying everything humanly possible to prevent them from taking them up to that building on top of the hill.
But they took Father Capon anyway, some of the Catholics had the privilege of carrying him from my room up to the so-called hospital or what we call the death house.
And he was up there for a week or two and finally we got word that Father Capon had died.
And it hit us all Catholics, non-Catholics, just like a ton of bricks because we all had so much love and respect for him.
It was a great loss to him and it's a loss that I have endured ever since I first met him back in 1951.
He was a great man.
Now you survived, you came back from Korea and in closing, how did that affect the rest of your life, that experience with Father Capon?
Well, I was determined to live a ratuous and a religious type of life. I wanted to respect my fellow man, I wanted to help my fellow man just as much as I possibly could.
But he gave me, taught me a great deal about compassion and I'm trying to understand other people, other people's viewpoints and it encouraged me to try to help other people any way that I could.
Well, I know that there's something that you and I talked about the other day that you're getting an opportunity now to tell our veteran audience and our non-veteran audience to recite the 23rd Psalm.
And in closing for your segment, would you please do that Bill, the one that you did that you recited so well on the DVD.
Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Bill Funchus.
I was in a room at one occasion with 11 other seriously wounded POWs.
At the time I was captured, I hid the little pocket Bible that I had.
And after we got to the first temporary POW camp, I took the Bible out of my pocket and each day for 15 or 20 minutes each day I would read from the Bible.
And I always would start off by reading the 23rd Psalm.
And the reason I use the 23rd Psalm is because when I was growing up in South Carolina, my mother always told me in times of trouble, you should read the 23rd Psalm because it will give you peace and comfort.
And anyway, I asked the men one day after I had the Bible, would you like for me to read?
And they said, yes, please read.
And I read to them, started off with the 23rd Psalm, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.
Thou anointest my head with oil.
My cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you very much, Bill, and God bless you, and you have a great day.
And thank you so much, Bob, for having me a part of this program.
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Oh, we're back.
And after that, that was really something.
What do you think of that, Tom?
Well, as a guy who's been in radio for a long time, that was good radio.
That was good radio because this man told us a story.
He was right there.
We followed him.
We said on every word that he said, because it was true.
He was so articulate.
It was like it happened yesterday.
In his mind, in the back worlds of his mind.
And there it was.
And also, for him to end in prayer, I thought was really quite beautiful.
And I'm glad that you asked him to do that, too, Bob.
I think that was really great.
Father Capone has had an impact that is stretching even now.
I mean, how many people are hearing us right now?
We don't know.
Okay, but his saintliness, this goodness that he had in his life,
was given to these men.
And these men are now changed for that.
And now, because of this show that we're doing, other people can hear it.
And maybe their lives will be changed as well.
And I thought it was beautiful that he decided to go and do the 23rd Psalm,
because it's so beautiful, so sweet, and so true.
And it brings us into the heart of God's love.
So I just thought this was very, very good radio.
And I'm glad you asked me that question.
And the 23rd Psalm was something he recited every day.
I'm sure he did.
Every day at his mother's set as a time of trouble.
Dale, you've been...
I was taken aback by that, because I timed trip back.
My sister had given me a small Bible to take to Vietnam with me.
And the 23rd Psalm had always been important in our family.
And periodically, you don't know me as being very spiritual, I don't think.
But periodically, while I was there, I would pull out that little Bible
and read the 23rd Psalm, because it is the most powerful, I think, Psalm that's in the Bible.
And there are people that would read that.
There are people that would change words and so on and so forth.
But the message was always in the same that you were protected by something.
Whether you believed or not, you always had this sensation that something was watching over you,
that you were protected on that particular time.
And I had to pull away from the microphone while he was reading that.
And again, thinking again, this man is probably in his 80s at least.
Middle 80s, yes.
And all of those men who carry this story with them from Father Coupan,
and the impact that this man had on...
60 years later.
I know.
We were talking about when he was describing the room, we've had other Korean POWs on.
And they described the same thing, that they're in a room.
Whatever the size of the room is, each of you had about a foot.
That was it.
They would cram so many of you in there that you couldn't even roll over without bumping into the other person.
You all kind of slept right next to each other, like you were best friends.
And that anytime that the guards would come in and take you to the death room or the death building...
The hospital.
The hospital is that metaphor for, that's it, you're done.
They didn't come back.
A lot of times they didn't even reach the hospital.
And the stories and the people that we've talked to.
So can you imagine that they're taking this spiritual leader away from them, and they knew what was happening?
And I'm sorry.
People have got to read this.
If you can ever get ahold of this thing about Father Coupan by Mike Dao, who he mentioned.
He talks about how he had a little gold cup that he would hold for the bread for the communion.
And that was their most prized possession that he left to them.
And that they would continue on.
And as he was being taken out on a litter, he told these men in this room, he says,
Keep going.
Keep this going.
Even though I'm gone, you can do this.
And that meant survival.
It did.
Because all the physical discomfort and stress, you can get through that.
You can get through that if your mind is with God and spiritually.
Father Hatzi, I know you've had a chance to listen to all this.
We've only got a few minutes left.
I'd like you to comment.
And where does Father Coupan go from receiving the Medal of Honor?
And what does the future lie for Father Coupan?
Well, I think a final comment.
When we look at what Father Coupan did, I mean, the acts that he did were very simple acts.
I mean, helping, feeding those that were hungry, giving clothes to those trying to provide clean water.
But Father Coupan was able to do it under extraordinary circumstances.
And just lately, I've been thinking about what it would be like to be in that prison camp and the fellow prisoners and stuff.
And I think this is kind of what sets me apart, and I think probably most of us apart from the greatness of Father Coupan.
I'm sitting here thinking, when I get up and I'm struggling or when there's a bad period of time, I get up and I think, well, how am I going to survive this day?
And I think probably in the prison camp, many men had that same thought, how am I going to survive during this day?
Or how am I going to live through this day?
I think Father Coupan got up in the morning and thought, how am I going to help others survive this day?
And I think that's probably what sets him apart from, I know it certainly be, but I think probably from most of us.
I mean, while most of us would be thinking about ourselves, Father Coupan thought about others and how he could help others.
And ultimately, I mean, he gave his very life in that service.
In terms of his continuing on in the process after the Medal of Honor, certainly the Medal of Honor will bring attention to his cause for sainthood.
One of the things that the Congregation for Saints over in Rome looks for in this decision of naming somebody a saint is the cult.
And I mean a cult in a good way, a cult in that people recognize the goodness of this man and they recognize the fact that he is somebody who led a life of exemplary service.
So that we strive to follow the example that they set, ultimately the saints or ones that follow the example of Christ and set that example of Christ for others.
So ultimately, when we look at the lives of the saints, they are leading us to Christ or leading us to follow the example of Christ.
So I think certainly that his being awarded the Medal of Honor will bring attention to him and have people realize that yes, it would be a good idea to follow his example,
to try to instill hope in others, to try to bring the love that others have for them or the love that God has for us and share that love with others,
which is certainly what Father Capon did throughout his entire life.
In terms of the process for sainthood, one of the, well, we have all of the documents over in Rome,
so they are considering this document in Rome in the process of sainthood for his to be ultimately named a saint.
We will have to prove that there were certain miracles worked through his intercession,
meaning that people prayed to Father Capon, asking Father Capon to pray for their needs also.
We're currently working on a couple of ledged miracles to see if we can prove that those healings were miraculous events or events that had no scientific reason for happening.
We're working on, like I say, proving two of those.
Hopefully we'll be done with those by this summer.
We'll have that information over in Rome also, and hopefully that will be an impetus for the sub-movement on his cause for sainthood also.
And we'll also be covering that on Veterans Radio.
Thank you very much, Father Hotzi.
I know you've got a busy day today there in Wichita.
God bless, and we will be talking to you shortly.
Thank you for having me.
Okay, Roy, you're there.
We've got about a minute and a half to give you.
How about some last thoughts?
Well, what I got out of a couple of years of talking to his friends is a very unusual man.
I think some of the descriptions that you hear about him are tended to tip over into cliches.
Yes, he was good.
Yes, he was holy.
But I think he put on a clinic for a little less than a year in Korea about not only how to lead, but how to witness Christianity.
And what I mean by that is he just didn't talk about it very much.
He didn't say much to anybody.
I mean, that was kind of his natural personality anyway.
But he didn't go around judging people or jabbing fingers and telling people that they need to go to mass or else.
His way of witnessing Christianity and leadership was if he saw somebody digging a latrine, he went over and started digging with him.
If the guy asked him, well, who are you, he wouldn't necessarily say I'm Chaplain or Father Cappan.
He would say I'm Cappan.
How you doing?
He ran across the battlefields of many battles rescuing the wounded.
People saw him do these things and it kind of snuck up on them that this guy is a Chaplain.
He didn't always evoke that.
And so when things really fell apart and they needed a leader, they would do what he asked where they wouldn't necessarily do what their officers ordered them to do.
It was just amazing how he rallied hundreds of people to do things without saying very much at all.
He led and witnessed by example and that's why you see just this burning intensity among the people who are still alive who knew him.
They just saw this and were just awestruck by it.
They still are.
Well said, Roy.
Thank you very much.
Real quick, give us how our listeners can get a copy of the miracle of Father Cappan.
Kansas.com slash Cappan and you'll see an entry.
You'll see this giant series that I did in 09.
Travis Heim and I did in 09.
The series is now a book that's got a lot more information than it, but that's how you can order it and you can see all the stories that we've done about this man.
It's well worth reading.
Thank you very much for being on the program, Roy.
Thank you, Bob.
You have a blessed day.
Gentlemen, Tom, Dale.
Well, I think it's just a great story and I wanted to kind of jump in and say there are chaplains from all the religions of the world that are in the military and they all do such an amazing job.
They throw caution to the wind.
They go out to minister to the wounded.
And they get wounded and they get killed.
And it doesn't make any difference what religion you are. They are there. They give you that peace that you need.
Tom, last word.
I just want to thank you for having me here today to witness and to take part in this discussion. It was beautiful.
It really was.
And you're going to be having a fundraiser very shortly.
Next week.
That's cool.
Well, this is it, folks.
Bob Gould wrapping up another wonderful program right here at Veterans Radio.
We are dismissed.