Vietnam’s Godly Grunt
The television series M*A*S*H unfortunately painted the timid figure of Father Mulcahy as a textbook military chaplain. Rugged and fearless are better descriptives of the non-fiction versions. Nine of them in U.S. history have been awarded the Medal of Honor, the military’s highest and most prestigious decoration, a tribute to extraordinary bravery. Even the U.S. president must salute a Medal of Honor recipient.
Three of those nine Medals of Honor went to chaplains who served in Vietnam. Army Major Charles Watters died while administering last rites and rescuing the wounded during the Battle of Dak To on November 19, 1967. Less than a month later and despite sustaining severe wounds, Army Captain Charles Liteky carried more than 20 men to safety under heavy fire from an enemy force that greatly outnumbered his unit. His fellows said his bravery was the inspiration they needed to repel the enemy.
Those two followed in the footsteps of a fellow priest who had given his life on a battlefield earlier that year. Along with the Medal of Honor, Navy Lieutenant Vincent Capodanno also earned the Navy Bronze Star, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star, and the Purple Heart. Today, military chapels in Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan, and the United States are named for him, as are various military buildings, schools, streets, and memorials, including a large statue at Fort Wadsworth (facing page) near his boyhood home on Staten Island. His parents’ hometown of Gaeta, Italy, boasts a sculpture in his honor in the Piazza Capodanno. The first ship in the U.S. fleet to receive a papal blessing, granted on the 14th anniversary of his death in 1981, was the USS Capodanno, named in his honor.
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