Posted on 08/02/2015 3:36:58 PM PDT by scouter
Over here [Vietnam] there is a written policy that if you get three Purple Hearts you go home within 48 hours. On Labor Day, our battalion ran into a world of trouble- when Father C. (Capodanno) arrived on the scene it was 500 Marines against 2500 North Vietnamese Army Regulars. Needless to say, we were constantly on the verge of being completely overrun and the Marines on several occasions had to advance in a retrograde movement. This left the dead and wounded outside the perimeter as the Marines slowly withdrew. Casualties were running high and Father C. had his work cut out for him. Early in the day, he was shot through the right hand which all but shattered his hand- one corpsman patched him up and tried to med evac him but Father C declined saying he had work to do. A few hours later, a mortar landed near him and left his right arm in shreds hanging from his side. Once again, he was patched up and once again he refused evacuation. There he was, moving slowly from wounded to dead to wounded using his left arm to support his right as he gave absolution or Last Rites, when he suddenly spied a corpsman get knocked down by the burst of an automatic weapon. The corpsman was shot in the leg and couldn't move and understandably panicked. Fr. C. ran out to him and positioned himself between the injured boy and the automatic weapon. Suddenly, the weapon opened up again and this time riddled Father C. from the back of his head to the base of his spine- and with his third Purple Heart of the day- Father C. went home.
- Lieutenant Joseph E. Pilon, MD Christmas 1967
On September 3, 2015, a memorial Mass for Fr. Vincent will be offered at 6:30 PM in the Crypt Church of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, 400 Michigan Avenue, Northeast, Washington, DC. Archbishop Timothy Broglio, Archbishop of the Military Services, will be the main celebrant. All are invited to attend this Mass on the 48th anniversary of his death. Military members are encouraged to wear uniform of the day adn civilians, business attire.
Fr. Vincent was known among the Marines in Vietnam as "The Grunt Padre", which is the title of a biography written about him. I could not put the book down when I read it. His ultimate sacrifice of his life for one of his marines was simply the natural progression of the way he lived his life up until that moment. That is why he had the courage to die for this corpsman. He had been living for the marines for so long, and with such dedication, that to die for of them was a almost a given.
My father was a classmate of Fr. Vincent Capodanno in the Maryknoll seminary in New York, and is quite devoted to his memory.
I highly recommend the following:
http://www.nationalshrine.com/site/apps/nlnet/content.aspx?c=osJRKVPBJnH&b=4751533&ct=14736613
Happy to hear Fr. C’s cause has been opened. I had not heard of him before. Thank you for bringing us this story.
That’s why it’s called the celestial church.
What a mensch
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” - John 15:13
Thanks for posting.
One of my hs teachers, Fr. Robert Brett, became a Navy chaplain and was KIA in Vietnam.
http://catholicherald.com/stories/Catholic-Chaplain-Killed-in-Vietnam-Leaves-Legacy-of-Faith,5228
I’m happy to see someone using the term “winner” in connection with the Medal of Honor. I think it was during the Iraq War that somebody decided that it should be “recipient,” and started a hysterical smear campaign against the word “winner,” on the brainless grounds that “winner” implies sheer luck—as in “lottery winner”—and to say “winner” was therefore “disrespecting the troops—’Murrica!”
Never mind that men have been “winning” ladies’ hands in marriage for millennia. Never mind that we “won” WWII. Sheer luck...right.
Nope. You are awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery above and beyond the call of duty. It isn’t a contest. And considering that most who get this award do so posthumously, winner is a rather poor description.
Nope. You are awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery above and beyond the call of duty. It isn’t a contest. And considering that most who get this award do so posthumously, winner is a rather poor description.
When people win the lottery, they are “awarded” the prize. Ever look at the Publishers’ Clearing House junk mail? People are “awarded” those prizes, too.
Publishers Clearing House? Are you really that obtuse? Let me try this one more time. A Medal of Honor is awarded for bravery, gallantry, selflessly placing the lives of others ahead of your own. In most cases, the medal is presented to your wife or your parents ‘cause you ain’t gonna be there, pal! If you are fortunate enough to have survived the incident, you will be decorated by the Commander-in-Chief.
Your lucky ticket wasn’t drawn, your weren’t the 10,000th customer, your lucky number didn’t come on Wheel, and Pat Sajak isn’t handing you a check or keys to a new Chevy. War, real killing and suffering, isn’t a video game, it’s serious stuff. You shame yourself by trivializing this the way you do.
Bye.
And my point is that the word “winner” does not imply any of those silly things.
Until just several years ago, EVERYBODY said, “X won the Congressional Medal of Honor.” Then somebody INVENTED the notion that the word “winner” is somehow inappropriate.
“My brother just won the Congressional Medal of Honor.”—George Bailey
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