🎥 Mass of Christian Burial for Fr. Emil Kapaun

Father Kapaun's remains were carried from Veterans Memorial Park, 339 Veterans Memorial Parkway, by way of horse-drawn caisson from to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception photo courtesy KWCH

WICHITA — A Mass of Christian Burial for Fr. Emil J. Kapaun was held at Hartman Arena on Wednesday morning.

Following the Mass, Father Kapaun's remains were carried from Veterans Memorial Park, 339 Veterans Memorial Parkway, by way of horse-drawn caisson to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception where he will finally be laid to rest.

Fr. Kapaun’s 5,400 lb. marble tomb placed on the concrete foundation in the east transept of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Wichita-photo Catholic Diocese of Wichita

Kapaun will be laid to rest in a 5,400 pound tomb inside the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception located at Broadway and Central in Wichita.

Kapaun was captured in 1950 while attending to soldiers during the Korean War. He died of pneumonia at the POW camp while continuing to minister to fellow prisoners.

Kapaun, the Marion County-native, a priest of the Diocese of Wichita, served as an Army Chaplain during WWII and the Korean War, and was taken as a Prisoner of War in 1951. He continued to minister to Americans as a POW before passing away on May 23, 1951.

Kapaun was awarded the Medal of Honor. In 1993, the Catholic church named him a “Servant of God,” which began the lengthy process of canonization.

The Defense Department’s POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced in March that Kapaun’s remains had been identified at the agency’s laboratory at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. On March 4, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency reported the remains of Father Emil Kapaun were positively identified.