I received a note from "Doc" Francis Kowalski with an article concerning Father CAPODANNO, a Navy Chaplain who served with the 1stMarDiv in Vietnam.
"With the permission of the Vatican, the U. S. Archdiocese for the Military Service has begun an inquiry that could lead to the canonization of Maryknoll Father Vincent R. Capodanno, A U. S. Navy Chaplain who died in 1967 while service with the Marines in Vietnam. Msgr. Roland A. Newland, chancellor of the archdiocese, made the formal declaration of the opening of Father Capodannon's cause 21 May during the 12th annual Memorial Day Mass at the Basilica of the Nation Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. Born 13 February 1929, on Staten Island in New York, Vincent Robert Capodanno studied at Maryknoll seminaries and was ordained to the priesthood 14 June 1958. He served for the first eight years of his priesthood as a Maryknoll missionary in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Commissioned as a Lieutenant in the U. S. Navy 28 December 1965, Father Capodanno asked to serve with the Marines in Vietnam and joined the 1st Marine Division in 1966 as Battalion Chaplain. According to a biography on the Web Site of the military archdiocese, "Marines affectionately called Chaplain Caponanno the 'grunt padre' for his ability to relate well with Marines and his willingness to risk his life to minister to |
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the men." He extended his one-year tour of duty in Vietnam by six months to continue serving with the Marines. Fatally wounded by enemy sniper fire on 4 September 1967, he was posthumously awarded the nation's highest military honor "the Medal of Honor, "for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty." Memorials to Father Capodanno include chapels, a boulevard, military buildings, a scholarship fund and the USS Capodanno, commissioned in 1973 for anti-submarine warfare and decommissioned twenty years later." One only has one life to give for God, Country, and Corps! CHANGES TO OUR ROSTER Louis F. Eaves' address 412 Citizen St, St Louis, MO 39520-3304 Paul E. Godridge's address 113 Olde Point Ridge, Hampstead, NC 28443-2387 Jerry Hansen's telephone number 310-376-2967 Raymond James' Plt/Sqd: 3rdPlt/1stSqd Zane Jewell's address: 148 Arlis Avenue, Dayton, TN 37321 Raymond A. Kopszynski's address: 3924 E. Van Norman, Cudahy, WI 53110 Robert Stevenson' dates: 9/50 - 12/50 Platoon/Company: Assult/1st Plt WPNS: Gene Jordan, Peter Kallas, Gebo Ventrudo |
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TAPS Received a landline call on Friday the 27th from Guz Guzick that Robert D. Diehl 2ndPlt 12/51 -12/52 reported on high on 27 October 2006. His wife Doris lives at 2596 Venetian Lane, Elgin, IL 60124. I received a letter from "Doc" Francis Kowalski that his bride of 52 years and 16 days passed on 20 September, due to a massive heart attack. Their home is in Winchester, VA. "Doc" served with A & B Med 5/53 - 7/54. I received a landline call from Col. Stan Rauh USMC (Ret) on the 27th that Major Fred C. Mc Laughlin USMC (Ret) reported on high on 24 October 2006. He was CO from 6-12/52 and BN S-1. His tour in Korea was from 2/52 - 12/52. He was known only as "Captain Mac." Marines out ranks are thinning which causes us much pain and sorrow losing many of our Marine Brothers! Let us continue to remember them and their families! CODE OF CONDUCT F. Brooke Nihart, a highly decorated Marine colonel who oversaw the development of Marine Corps museums and was the author of the U.S. Military Code of Conduct recited by every member of the armed forces, died Aug. 30 at Inova Fairfax Hospital of heart and kidney ailments. He was 87 and lived at Greenspring Village retirement community in Springfield. After the Korean War, military officials observed a disturbing trend among U.S. prisoners who, after being subjected to brainwashing, revealed military secrets to their captors. The Marine |
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