Today's Veterans Radio program is dedicated to
the men and women who have served and are now
serving in the Republic of South Korea. We dedicate
this program to you. From the studios of Ave
Maria Radio in Ann Arbor, this is Veterans Radio.
And now, here's your host, Bob Gould. Yes, and
good morning out there and 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 Emile
Capon. 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
Peter pilot today. Well, of course you all recognize
that voice, right? That's Dale Throneberry. Let's
hear it for Dale. 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 Capon and I believe
was probably somewhere around five years ago
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 this is 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 Lowey of the WDEO Development Department.
Tom, welcome to Veterans Radio. It's an honor
to be here today. It's an honor to have you too.
I don't think you sat on that side. Is this the
first time on the program? Yes, this is the first
time I've ever been on Veterans Radio. We're
very honored. Again, I'm very honored to be here
as well. This is great. Just so you folks know,
I'm the development director for Ave Maria Radio.
Veterans Radio records right here in our studio,
so it's a double honor. for us and we're really
pleased to be here today. Well, very much having
you here today. Okay, Nina in the control room.
There she is. And Maria. Maria's busy tweeting
and twittering and whatever else that all those
folks do. Twittering, tweeting, and going on
Facebook and all that other business. And oh,
okay, right. Well, we're not going to go to our
best... And yet, we still have to pay the bill,
so let's hit it right now for a little word from
WDO. 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 Pilsen, Kansas answered the call.
He was a priest of the Catholic faith. He wanted
to service fellow soldiers and so it started.
Today we celebrate the sacrifice and compassion
of this remarkable man. Emile Capone Yes, welcome
once again to veterans radio and I'm Bob Gould
gonna be your host today and on the line with
me There we go as father John Hotsy who began
all this folks Back about six years ago, I received
an email from Father Hotsy, and that outlined
the story of Father Kapan, a priest who died
in captivity, POW, 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 are telling both military officials and
they're also telling church officials about the
great deeds that he had done. And they're the
ones that have kept it up to 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 as 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 was
over and these men were freed from the prison
camp. 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 the other ones that have really been promoting
Fr. Capon's cause, both for his sanctity, 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. Broglio, who was born in Cleveland
Heights, Ohio. By the way, Archbishop, I want
to be sure and get that. I received an email
from a friend of mine, Mr. Bob Crudie, 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. 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. Earned a Bachelor 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. And 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 Ave Maria
Radio. And I was just listening to, you know,
Bob, as you were reading the credits basically
for the Archbishop, you know, 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,
yeah. To outline this, on November 19, 2007,
Archbishop Broglio was named the fourth Archbishop
of the Military Services of 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, give
your feelings about this. Well, I think Father
Hatsi 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 Beatitudes. 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 Kippon is a magnificent and
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 body down. It
wasn't about all the glories, but it was about
letting his body 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 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, I think he was consumed by
this desire to take care of his fellow soldiers,
obviously regardless of their 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 cliché, but it was there,
and there was going to be no stopping. This was
it. This was His epiphany. This was what He 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 to the
armed forces as well. He was not going to let
his buddy down, buddy being this fellow. fellow
soldiers and fellow peon. Tom, you have a comment.
Your Excellency, I'm not as familiar with the
story of Fr. Capone as others are, but I do have
a couple of questions. You were talking about
his ministry in the camps themselves. What do
we know or do you know anything specifically
about that? For instance, here's one question
right off the bat. Was he able to celebrate Mass?
Did his prison ward Do they allow that type of
a thing? What kind of service was he actually
doing within the prison camp? To the best of
my knowledge, he was able to celebrate mass.
Whether that was clandestined 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
a patent that he used. And I think one of the
prisoners took it. took it from him. So I mean
that would seem to indicate that he celebrated
mass and was able to do that. Father Hudson 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 then of course took care of the others as
well. Well, yeah, thank you. And it just seems
to me that his service there, his ministry, was
memorable. You know, there's a lot of, you know,
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 the, you know, his ability
to pilfer extra foodstuffs so that the 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. We want to thank you, Archbishop
Broglieo, for taking time in 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 are 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. Let's see if I get this right. the
Center for Military Services. We'll have to talk
a little bit more about that at a future program
we'd like to have you on. Once again, thank you
for your time and a very busy day and God bless.
Ray Dow, and it talks about Father Kapan being
in the prisoner of war camp. 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 in 100 years. I know. It was one of those.
But this man had such compassion for his fellow
prisoners that every morning, he would round
up a pan full of hot water and come walking into
the prison. You know 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 even and you were in combat Dale So, you
know how important that is to have that to have
that mental Well -being and and and to have that
right. I think the idea here and not never being
a pow of course, but Just the idea of somebody
watching out for you that that would be so important
I would think all of the books and all of the
guests that we've had on veterans radio that
were POWs always talked about some 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 it did this in fact quick promo.
Next week we're going to talk to a POW from the
Vietnam area and in his book he talks about that,
the power of his belief system. Father Hodsey,
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 entured. 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 when Father Capon was around, everybody
joined him in prayers. One man, a Protestant
man, kind of laughed about it. And he said, yeah,
he said, we are there in the hut. And he said,
here we were Protestants, Jews. non -believers,
all praying the rosary with Father Capone, 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 twenties. 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 break out of
the officer's 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 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 steal or take from the rations
of the North Koreans or the Chinese, he would
pass out the food that he had for them. And one
guy said, Father Kapan 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. He could have a little bit of tobacco.
I love it. Well, the funny part is one man was
talking to me and he said, father, he said, you
know, 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 what you were smoking, but he said it wasn't
tobacco. Could have been what, but it was, you
know, and 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. So 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 lead
him 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, 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 to 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 shouldn't have been on or
shouldn't have been anybody there. And he would
go and he said it would be Father Capone and
he'd be in there writing letters home to the
families of the soldiers that had passed away.
He 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'd
make a timeline from stories that he had heard,
that we had heard of Father Capon. And they're
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. Exactly. No, not the weather,
not the brutality, in 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 a national award -winning reporter.
He's now a Working with the Wichita Eagle and
he's wrote 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 IG and a T -I -U -S, and it's called
the miracle of Father Capante. 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
to him. Absolutely. And we have the author. So
currently he is with the Wichita Eagle. He is
the author of the Miracle of Father Capone. 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? Just a little nice and windy
and cool. Like it always is. 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 Hotsy. 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.
parallel investigations were really getting very
interesting. 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. 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 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 halftime break so roy stay
on the line yes and we'll yes 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 five four three. You're listening
to veterans radio. Don't go away Yeah, I like
that I was listening to that this morning and
I said that's gonna be so appropriate because
it is a new beginning That's from a CD called
We knew and it really does make you feel that
way and that's exactly what we're doing. We're
renewing life story of father Emil Capone And
on the line with me is Father John Hotsy, the
Vicar of the Archdiocese of Wichita, and Mr.
Roy Wenzel, who is a national award -winning
reporter with the Wichita Eagle. Roy, 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 Capan, and
why don't you very briefly, they'll 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 are usually,
they 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. He's never had to do it.
Some of them are traumatized in one way or another
and they just don't want to go there. They just
try to go on with their lives. In this case,
they had gone through terrible things, these
guys, and they didn't really want to talk about
themselves. 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 and Make make this ceremony that's finally
going to happen this coming week to make it happen.
It took them 60 years They're a little irritated
with that But but they did it so it was 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 Funchus Mr. William Bill Funchus
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 and then the
Chinese came in in November of 1950 and that
was when Mr. Funchus, along with thousands of
other soldiers, airmen, etc., were captured,
and Father Capon was also November of 1950. Bill
Funchus, 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
Capon, there he is standing there, and you have
a whole chance now to... to describe that. What
was his stature? What was he like? Father Capon
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, Emil Capon,
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'd 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. Well, that's really saying
something Tom you're shaking your head after
hearing something like that. Oh, it's very moving
to hear stories of this of this man's goodness
and and how the simple expression of goodness,
you know, a drink of water, how that can make...
A sip of water. Right, how that changes a man's
life in a positive way, you know, taking care
of the wounded, just looking and seeing that
somebody is in need. So, you know, 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 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 officer 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, to Protestants like
myself. And we were very appreciative of that.
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. They 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.
And it was not only the Catholics coming in,
but 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... 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 Kapan 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 him, but
they wanted no part of that. The Catholics came
in, they raised the rooks with the Chinese, trying
everything humanly possible to prevent them from
taking him 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've 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,
what How did that affect the rest of your life,
that experience with Father Capone? Well, I was
determined to live a righteous 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. 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
get 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 recited
so well on the DVD. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr.
Bill Funchus. I was in a room on one occasion
with 11 other seriously wounded POWs. At the
time I was captured, I had the little pocket
Bible. that I had and After I got 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 restoreth
my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness
for his name's sake. 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. Thank you so much Bob for having
me a part of this program. 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.
Oh, that was good radio because um, you know
This man told us a story. He was right there.
He was right there. We followed him. We sat on
every word that he said, you know, because it
was true. He was so articulate. It was like it
happened yesterday in his mind, in the backgrounds
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. How many people are hearing us right
now? We don't know. 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... 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, as his mother
said, as a time of trouble. Dale, you've been...
I was taken aback by that, because I time tripped
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,
I mean 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 you know
there are people that would read that there are
people that would changed words and so on and
so forth but the message was always in the same
that you were you were protected by something
whether you believed or not you always had this
this Sensation that something was watching over
you that you were protected on that particular
time and then and it was just I had to pull away
from the microphone while he was reading that
and and again thinking again this this man is
probably in his 80s at least middle 80s and you
know all of those men who carry this story with
them from father kapon and and the impact that
this man had 60 years later i know well you know
we were talking about when when he was describing
the room we've had other korean pows on and they
describe 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're best friends. And that any time 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 I 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? I'm sorry. People have got to read
this. If you could ever get a hold of this thing
about Father Capon by Mike Dow who he mentioned,
he talks about how he had a little gold cup.
that he would hold, you know, for the bread,
for the communion, I guess. And that was their
most prized possession that he left to them.
Wow. 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,
you can get through that. You can get through
that if your mind, if your mind is with God and
spiritually. Father Hadzi, 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 Capone go from receiving
the Medal of Honor? And what does the future
lie for Father Capone? Well, I think a final
comment. When we look at what Father Capone 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 Capon 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 Capon.
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 Capon got up in the morning and thought,
how am I going to help others survive this day?
And I think that's probably what it sets him
apart from, I know it would certainly be, but
I think probably from most of us. I mean, while
most of us would be thinking about ourselves.
Father Capon 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 are 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 Kaphon
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 these documents 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 alleged 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 it. impetus for the movement on
his cause for St. Ted also. And we'll also be
covering that on Veterans Radio. Thank you very
much, Father Hadzi. 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, He
was a very unusual man. I think some of the descriptions
that you hear about him tend 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 dig in
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 Capon, he would say, I'm Capon. 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, well said Roy. Thank you
very much real quick. Give us how our listeners
can can get a copy of the miracle of Father Capone
Kansas .com slash Capone and You'll see an entry.
You'll see this giant series that I did in 09
The Travis Heine and I did and 09 you can this
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? I think it's just a great
story. I wanted to kind of jump in and say, there
are chaplains from all of 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 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. And until next Saturday at 0900 hours,
you are dismissed. All views and opinions expressed
on this program are not necessarily of Veterans
Radio or this station. Veterans Radio is a production
of Veterans Radio LLC.