Today we commemorate seventy years since the end of the Korean War (July 27, 1953). On June 25, 1950, the troops of North Korea (supported by the Soviet Union and later by Chinese "volunteers") invaded South Korea in an attempt to unify the entire peninsula under North Korean communist dictatorship. The attacked country was militarily supported by the UN. A ceasefire was only negotiated after Stalin's death, and the border between North and South Korea remained in approximately pre-war conditions, although a peace treaty has yet to be concluded.
An American military chaplain of Czech descent, Father Emil Kapaun (1916–1951), became a support for the American soldiers who helped to push the occupiers back into their territory. While treating the wounded, he was captured and selflessly saved the lives of his fellow prisoners in the POW camp, where he died on May 23, 1951, due to cruel treatment. After his death, testimonies about his bravery and mercy began to multiply, leading to both the initiation of the canonization process (in 1993, Father Emil was declared a Servant of God) and the awarding of the highest American military honor (on April 11, 2013). Barack Obama said in his speech at that time: “Father Kapaun was called a shepherd in military boots. Soldiers who were close to him and felt his blessing and mercy called him a saint, seeing in him a gift from God. This American soldier never fired a weapon, yet he handled the strongest weapon of all: he loved his brothers so much that he was willing to die so that they could live.”
After my ordination, I was determined to "let myself be consumed" for God. I was resolved to serve joyfully, regardless of the circumstances I would face, or how hard the life I would have to lead. And so I volunteered for the army, and today I would much rather work, stripped of usual comfort and being a true "father" to many, than to live in a nice, comfortable place with a conscience that would tell me that I am a hindrance to many.
(Emil Kapaun /1916–1951/,
excerpt from a letter to the bishop in which he requested assignment to the army;
based on the book by Roy Wenzl The Strongest Weapon and Riccardi's Century of Martyrs)
