When we are celebrating any holiday, let’s not forget our people who gave their all during wartime. This is a story of one hero, but there were many more.
On Sept. 4, 1967, a Navy chaplain made the ultimate sacrifice as he ministered to his Marines during the Vietnam War. Father Vincent Capodanno, a Maryknoll Missioner, would receive a Medal of Honor for his selfless actions on that day so long ago.
Father Capodanno has since been declared a “Servant of God” by the Catholic Church, and he is now being considered for sainthood.
Capodanno was no ordinary military chaplain. In fact, he was affectionately dubbed “The Grunt Padre” by his men because of his insistence upon sharing their burdens and duties – however dangerous they might be.
“He was not a religious leader who did his job and then returned to the comfort of his own circle,” Capodanno’s biographer writes. “He lived as a Grunt Marine. Wherever they went, he went. Whatever burdens they had to carry, he shared the load. No problem was too large or too small to take to Father Vincent – he was available to them day and night.”
That approach would cost Capodanno his life during Operation Swift, a Vietnam War operation during the fall of 1967. On Sept. 4, a portion of Capodanno’s battalion was ambushed. The conflict turned into an all-out battle.
As a chaplain, Capodanno could easily have remained at the company command post. All things considered, it was a much safer place to be. But it also went against the grain for Capodanno to stay in a place of relative safety when his men were suffering. He wanted to be with them.
He “ran through an open area raked with fire, directly to the beleaguered platoon,” his medal citation reports. “Disregarding the intense enemy small-arms, automatic-weapons, and mortar fire, he moved about the battlefield administering last rites to the dying and giving medical aid to the wounded.”
During the course of his ministrations, Capodanno was seriously wounded in his arms and legs. His right hand was partially severed. And yet he continued on.
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