The Graybeards - KWVA - Korean War Veterans Association

CHAPLAINCY from page 3
Despite MacArthur’s hopes, unfortunately,
the major objectives of the airborne
operation were lost. Many of the NKA had
already retreated farther north. Far more
tragic, 73 American prisoners were found
murdered in one of the great atrocities of
the War.
Sampson and Hope eventually moved
south to P’yongyang and, while there,
helped minister to POW’s. Sampson collected
rosaries from his men for use by the
NKA Catholic prisoners. Later he wrote,
“I was struck by the strange twist wars can
make of things. These Christians had been
forced into the Communist army; now
here they were using the rosaries belonging
to the men they had been shooting at
only a few days ago.”
Chaplain Sampson, who became Chief
of Chaplains in 1967, was the momentary
victim of a common plight in the War —
someone stole his jeep. Undaunted by the
experience, he announced to some British
Catholics, after serving Mass at a neighboring
English tank unit: “Now if any of
you men can procure a jeep for me, from
any source of your choice, I will give that
man a jug of soluble coffee, a bottle of
wine, and absolution.” In 20 minutes, a
British sergeant delivered a new vehicle. It
not only had the previous markings painted
out, but also a fresh new ‘‘Chaplain’’
sign emblazoned on the front.
Chaplain Joseph A. Dunne, Roman
Catholic, replaced Sampson in the 187th
Regiment when the latter returned to
Japan. While Sampson, an avid tennis
player, was temporarily serving at the
Tokyo Hospital Annex, he met and
became good friends with another player
named Yuri Rostovorov. Counter
Intelligence Corps (CIC) agents soon
informed the chaplain that his friend was,
in fact, the Chief of the Russian Secret
Police in Japan. They wanted Sampson to
regularly report his conversations with the
Russian, but the chaplain refused such an
arrangement as being totally inappropriate
for a clergyman. The friendship continued
with the CIC’s knowledge and word came
one day that Chaplain Dunne, seriously
wounded by a land mine in Korea, had
been brought to the Tokyo hospital.
Rostovorov asked to join Sampson in a
visit to the wounded priest and, while
there, was obviously moved by Dunne’s
quiet composure to severe pain. “A little
over a year later,” wrote Sampson, “the
Washington department of the CIC
arranged a meeting between Rostovorov
and myself. He had found his way into the
democratic camp, and … he told about the
deep impression Father Dunne’s Christlike
suffering had made upon him.”
Suffering Under The Chinese
Intervention
Americans had become optimistic
about the War when the U.N. forces
seemed to be finishing their work. Many
U.S. units anticipated withdrawal to
Japan. What appeared to be the end of the
fighting, however, was actually only the
beginning of some of the bloodiest in
Korea. The sudden change came with an
unexpected intervention by Chinese
Communist Forces (CCF), who crossed
the Manchurian border and led a new
offensive against the U.N. lines.
Initial fighting between the U.S. and
CCF forces began near Unsan, roughly 60
miles north of P’yongyang. During the
first days of November, the 8th Regiment
of the 1st Cavalry Division, especially the
3rd Battalion, suffered heavy losses.
Chaplain Emil J. Kapaun, Roman
Catholic, a veteran of the Burma-India
Theater in World War II, was with them.
Years before, Kapaun had confided to a
high school friend in Kansas that he wanted
more than anything to be a martyr.
Asked once why he refused to wear gloves
while working in a farming harvest, he
replied: “I want to feel some of the pain
our Lord felt when he was nailed to the
cross.”
Kapaun had served in the 1st Cavalry
for some time and suffered through early
defeats with fellow Chaplains Donald
Chaplain Kapaun
was the first of
several Army chaplains
who suffered
in captivity.
Carter, Arthur Mills, and Julius B. Gonia,
Baptist, who replaced the wounded Mills.
Carter remembered how Kapaun found a
bicycle after losing his jeep in the early
days “and covered our units as few other
chaplains I know.”
The chaplains of the 8th Regiment
agreed to rotate among the battalions; near
the first of November, Chaplain Carter,
living with the 3rd Battalion held in
reserve, exchanged places with his friend,
Kapaun, in the 1st Battalion. Carter wanted
the priest to “enjoy a day or so away
from the tension where the heaviest attack
was expected. Ironically, it was the 3rd
Battalion that received the full force of the
Chinese assault and Kapaun’s martyrdom
started to be a reality in the evening of 2
November 1950.
The battalion was nearly wiped out
during the severe battle. CCF soldiers captured
Kapaun while he was with a group
of over 50 wounded he had helped gather
in an old dugout. Ordered to leave many
of those for whom he had risked his life,
Kapaun and a few ambulatory wounded
were forced to crawl through the battlefield
and were later imprisoned. For 6
months, under the most deprived conditions,
he fought Communist indoctrination
among the men, ministered to sick and
dying, and literally stole food from the
enemy in trying to keep his fellow soldiers
alive. Eventually, suffering from a blood
clot, pneumonia, and dysentery, he died
there on 23 May l951.
Chaplain Emil J. Kapaun, Roman
Catholic, was the first of several Army
chaplains to suffer in captivity. A mere 2
days after his capture, another chaplain
fell into the hands of the Chinese. Kenneth
C. Hyslop, Northern Baptist, was with the
men of the 19th Regiment, 24th Infantry
Division, who were attempting to stop the
Communist drive south of Unsan near
Anju. The 6-year veteran of Army service
received the Bronze Star earlier for
remaining with wounded who were cut off
and eventually leading them back to
friendly lines. Hyslop was captured on 4
November. Primarily because of internal
injuries as a result of mistreatment by his
captors, he died of starvation 38 days later
on 12 December.
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The Graybeards