“Kapaun’s Battle” — Print Book Release, August 4, 2021.
Kindle #1 New Release! Kindle Best Seller!
The Story of The Most Decorated Chaplain in U.S. Army History
August 4, 2021
(Houston, TX/Cardiff, U.K.) Capt. (Father) Emil J. Kapaun, born April 20, 1916, near Pilsen, Kansas, joined the U.S. Army during World War II, serving in the Burma theater from April 1945 through May 1946. Released from active duty in July 1946, Kapaun reenlisted in September 1948. He later served with the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, and 1st Cavalry Division during the Korean War — often referred to as “The Forgotten War.” Kapaun was the most decorated Chaplain in U.S. Army history … and never fired a shot. Many of his Band of Brothers called him a “Shepherd in Combat Boots.” In 1993, Pope John Paul II declared him a Servant of God, the first stage on his path to sainthood. His remains were finally returned to the U.S. after 70 years and finally identified on March 2, 2021.
Kapaun’s Battle, by author Jeff Gress, is a non-fiction narrative biopic of the courage, patriotism, and selfless acts of a humble man, who was truly on a mission from God, whilst amid the horrors of the battlefield. In 2013, at the White House, President Barack presented the Medal of Honor to Emil J. Kapaun, posthumously.
Author, Gress, said, “From my research, I found that in the heat of battle, bullets flying all around him, Capt. (Father) Kapaun would kneel before the dead and dying and say Last Rights over them. He’d then help medics drag the wounded back to the rear, all the time encouraging the wounded soldiers to hang on to life.”
Later, after his battalion of 800 men was over-run by some 20,000 Chinese troops, Kapaun convinced a Chinese Captain, whose wounds he had bandaged, to bring an end to the fighting. Minutes later Kapaun intervened to stop the execution of a wounded Sergeant to the astonishment of the Chinese soldiers. The survivors of his outfit were led off on a death march ending at a Chinese-run P.O.W. camp on the Chinese-N. Korean border. Anyone who could not walk or be carried was immediately shot and left by the side of the road.
At the P.O.W. camp, Kapaun rallied all of his band of brothers with not only his encouragement and prayers, but he would also sneak of out the camp at night, into nearby fields and Chinese officers’ mess halls, to steal and distribute food to his fellow prisoners. During assemblies of Chinese “Indoctrination” courses, Kapaun would defy his captors and lead the group in Christian praise songs, knowing punishment would follow. And it did. His Chinese captors stripped Kapaun down during the coldest winter on record and make him stand for six hours on a frozen lake, then bring him back to camp and pour water over him and made him stand, shivering, until ice cycles formed on his entire body.
Faye Walker, Ph.D., a University professor, read the manuscript before it was published by 3rd Coast Books and commented: “This is the most gut-wrenching story of bravery, patriotism, and God’s grace that I have ever had the opportunity to read. Kapaun helped the sick and the well, the small and the mighty, to overcome the malaise and terror of war.”
Executive Producer, 360 Studios, Keith Barrows said, “This is a true story that must be seen on film so the audience can experience the absolute horrors of war and to see, first hand, the cost of the freedom we have here in the United States.”
While Kapaun suffered from malnutrition, dysentery, and pneumonia, a blood clot formed in his leg, not allowing him to stand. His Chinese captors waited for the opportunity to lead him off to the “hospital,” which was filled with urine and excrement, where captives were left to die. Before entering, witnesses said that Kapaun said a prayer over his captors and uttered, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”