Nick Dellasega passed out on May 7, 2011, at a Get Busy Living 5K event in Pittsburg, Kansas (in remembrance of Dylan Meier). Dellasega appeared to have perished on the spot, but a chain of coincidences led to his survival. The Wichita Eagle quotes Micah Ehling, an EMT and boyhood buddy, as stating, “I know what a face looks like when the soul leaves the body.” And Nick had that appearance. Some onlookers believe that Dellasega survived because of the dedication of his cousin Jonah Dellasega, who knelt down at the incident and asked for the intervention of Emil Kapaun. In an odd coincidence that The Eagle did not cover, the 5K was being conducted in honor of Dylan Meier, who was scheduled to teach English in Korea at the time of his passing.
The strange coincidences that saved Nick’s life, according to skeptics, could not have been organized by the spirit of Emil Kapaun because some of them—such as a visit from Nick’s uncle Mark, a doctor from Greenville, North Carolina—were set in motion long before Nick fell. On the other hand, all of the events can be seen as having been initiated by divine providence. According to The Eagle, “The coincidences are strange enough and the prayer notable enough that a Catholic Church investigator has reported Nick’s story to the Vatican, which happens to have a representative in Wichita again, sizing up Father Emil Kapaun for sainthood.”
Emil Kapaun Memorials
- Seoul, South Korea’s Kapaun Memorial Chapel was dedicated on November 4, 1953.
- Dedicated in December 1954, Kapaun Religious Retreat House is located in Ōiso, Japan.
- On June 7, 1955, the Kaiserslautern Military Community in Kaiserslautern, Germany, dedicated Kapaun Air Station and Chapel.
- Father Kapaun Memorial Technical School was established in the summer of 1955 in Kwanju, Korea.
- Chaplain Kapaun Memorial High School was established on May 12, 1957, in Wichita, Kansas. In 1971, it changed its name to Kapaun Mount Carmel Catholic High School.
- The Honolulu Memorial was dedicated in 1964 at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.
- In February 1997, the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Wichita, Kansas, dedicated a bronze door panel.
- Dedicated in 1998, Kapaun Chapel is located in Camp McGovern in Bosnia.
- On June 3, 2001, the Chaplain Kapaun Korean War Memorial Site was dedicated in Pilsen, Kansas.
- 2001 and 2002 Chaplain Kapaun Complex, Fort Riley, Kansas.
- On November 11, 2014, a memorial tablet was placed to the Kansas Korean War Memorial wall in Overland Park, Kansas.
- U.S. Army Garrison Daegu’s granite monument was unveiled in December 2014.
- Chaplains Memorial; Freedoms Foundation; Valley Forge, PA; October 18, 2014; The Medal of Honor Grove.
Knights of Columbus
- Chaplain Emil J. Kapaun Knights of Columbus Council #3423 Pilsen, KS
- Knights of Columbus Council 3744
- Knights of Columbus Council 11987
- Father Emil Kapaun Knights of Columbus Council #12965 Oak Grove KY
- Chaplain Emil J. Kapaun Knights of Columbus Council #14218 Fort Riley, KS
- Emil Kapaun Knights of Columbus Fourth Degree Assembly #2721; Katy, Texas.
- FR. EMIL J. KAPAUN ASSEMBLY #3260 VAIL, ARIZONA [Knights of Columbus]
- Fr. Emil Kapaun Assembly #3274 Paoli, Pennsylvania, Knights of Columbus
- Fr. Emil Kapaun Assembly #3826 Pearl, Mississippi, Knights of Columbus
Kapaun’s Men
In an effort to carry on Father Kapaun’s legacy of encouraging men to support one another in their faith, a group of men banded together to create Kapaun’s Men in 2015. The organization has created multiple video series, a documentary about Father Kapaun’s life, and, for a while, a weekly podcast called The Foxhole.
TV Representation
James Whitmore portrayed him in the November 25, 1955, Crossroads TV episode “The Good Thief”.
