The Chaplain Service of the Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center will offer a Welcome Home service on Thursday, September 30, to honor Father Emil Kapaun, a native of Pilsen, KS. The service will begin at 10 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Wichita, 525 N. Broadway.
Fr. Kapaun served as a chaplain in the U.S. Army during both World War II and the Korean War. He died in a prisoner of war camp in Korea and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty. His remains were recently identified as part of a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency project and returned to Kansas.
The theme for the service will be Home-Faith-Service. It will welcome home not only Fr. Kapaun but all Veterans who have deployed during times of war. It will celebrate the faith that was the source for Fr. Kapaun’s life and service, as well as provide an opportunity for participants to see how they can extend Fr. Kapaun’s service in their own spheres of influence.
“The primary purpose of this service is to allow the welcome home that will be offered to Chaplain Kapaun to ripple out to include all Veterans who have returned from war,” said Chaplain David Fulton, staff Chaplain at Dole VA. “But it also seeks to move the participants into acting on behalf of their community and the nation.”
With seats already full for Fr. Kapaun’s funeral and internment on September 29, the VA’s service provides another opportunity for Veterans and the community to remember and honor Fr. Kapaun.
For more information, contact the Dole VA Chaplain Service at 316-685-2221, ext. 53430.
