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31 May 2023
HERINGTON, Kan. (KSNW) – The Herington Post Office at 17 E. Main St. has a new name in honor of Father Emil Kapaun. It is now the Captain Emil J. Kapaun Post Office Building.
Kapaun (kuh-PAWN) is from Pilsen, which is about 20 miles south of Herington. He worked as a chaplain during World War II and the Korean War. He died as a prisoner of war in 1951. Pope John Paul II declared him a Servant of God in 1993.
Kapaun posthumously received the Medal of Honor in 2013. On March 2, 2021, his remains were accounted for, and his body is interred in a tomb inside the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception in Wichita.
Community members and Kapaun’s family gathered Tuesday for the renaming.
“You know, it’s kind of strange. Like I said, my middle name is Emil, and I’m the youngest of all the brothers, and I kept asking Mom how I ended up with that. She’s like, ‘Well, I don’t know. It just seems right.’ So, it’s fallen on me, and I’ve put it upon myself to make sure his story keeps going out there and have that family connection with who and what Father Emil stood for,” said Ray Kapaun, nephew.
Getting Kapaun’s name on the post office wasn’t an easy task. It took a bill introduced by Rep. Tracey Mann to make it happen.