Staff writer
Tributes to his uncle brought Raymond Kapaun to Marion last week.
While recording three songs at Greenjeans Studio in Wellington, he took time to see a VFW post sign that commemorates his uncle, Father Emil Kapaun.
Raymond Kapaun, from Whidbey Island, Washington, said recording his songs, “Home at Last,” “Rocking Chair,” and “Without You,” were the culmination of a slow process of composing and refining music.
Kapaun last was in Marion County for Father Kapaun’s homecoming Sept. 25 to Pilsen after his remains were identified by a military laboratory in Hawaii.
Father Kapaun, a Pilsen native and Army chaplain who died in a prisoner-of-war camp during the Korean War, is being considered by the Vatican for designation as a martyr. If he is declared a martyr, he will be beatified, the next step below canonization as a saint.
At the VFW, post vice commander Warren Kreutziger talked with Kapaun about the post’s work on a veterans memorial to be built at Marion County Park and Lake.
A location has been selected and approved by county commissioners, and the post is working on the design.
Raymond Kapaun plans to move to Marion County after he retires to be more involved with Pilsen and Marion.
His next trip is planned for June as part of an annual walk from Wichita to Pilsen in memory of Father Kapaun.