CHAPTER CHATTER Page 7
The Official Newsletter of the
Shenandoah Valley Chapter #313
Korean War Veterans Association
Volume 14, Issue 04
Paul E. Bombardier, Editor
April, 2021
A Special Note from the Commander
Point of note for everyone, especially for our newer members.
One of our former members, ED REEL, who passed away a couple of years ago, was captured by the Chinese on
November 1, 1950, knew Father Kapaun and served in the same Prisoner of War Camp that Father Kapaun was in.
(Editor Note : Ed Reel was a veteran of the Korean War. He spent 34 months as a Prisoner of War in the hands of North Korean and / or Chinese forces. Following the war, Ed remained in the U.S. Army and retired in 1975 as a Command Sergeant Major with 27 years of service to our country.)
Emil Joseph Kapaun was a Roman Catholic priest and United States Army captain who served as a United States Army chaplain during World War II and the Korean War. Father Kapaun was a chaplain in the Burma Theater of World War II, then served again as a chaplain with the U.S. Army in Korea, where he was captured. He died in a prisoner of war camp.
Ed told us about the many acts of kindness and comfort that Father Kapaun provided his fellow POW's and how he was tortured when he exceeded the limitations imposed upon him by his captors. According to Ed, Father Kapaun died from starvation and as a result of some of the beatings he received.
(Ed Note: Denver Newsroom, Mar 5, 2021 / 05:27 pm MT (CNA).- Department of Defense investigators have identified the remains of U.S. Army chaplain and “Servant of God” Father Emil Kapaun among the unknown Korean War soldiers buried in a Hawaiian cemetery).
I ask everyone to please remember and honor these true American heroes.
Lewis M. Ewing, Commander
