Hawaii ceremony honors Army chaplain from Kansas

A ceremony at a Hawaii national cemetery will honor an Army chaplain from Kansas who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

In April, President Barack Obama awarded the nation’s highest military honor to Capt. Emil Kapaun, who risked his life dodging gunfire to provide medical and spiritual aid to wounded soldiers before dying in captivity more than 60 years ago during the Korean War.

Because the Catholic priest’s remains were never recovered, his name is listed at the American Battle Monuments Commission’s Honolulu Memorial at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Commission Secretary Max Cleland and the vicar general of the Roman Catholic Church in Hawaii will preside over Saturday’s ceremony at the Punchbowl cemetery.

A separate effort is under way seeking sainthood for Kapaun.