The line between fear and courage can be thin enough to cut skin. In the hills near Unsan in November 1950, a Catholic priest from Kansas walked that line while shells stitched the ground around him. His name was Emil Joseph Kapaun, and soldiers later said he made chaos feel orderly for a few hard minutes at a time. The Medal of Honor that bears his name was earned in a pocket of North Korea where everything was falling apart, and one man chose to move toward the fire.

Early life and the path to a uniform

Kapaun was born on April 20, 1916, in Pilsen, Kansas, the son of farmers in a tight-knit Bohemian Catholic community. He was ordained a priest on June 9, 1940, after studies in Wichita. Parish work came first, yet the war years tugged him toward service. By 1944, he entered the U.S. Arm

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