Kansas Heroes

Heroes come in many shapes and sizes.  However, they all share one thing in common. They put personal comfort aside and they have exhibited courage to help their fellow human beings ahead of themselves. This week, thanks to the efforts of two central Kansans, we celebrate the heroes who have served in the military of our country. In 1954, U.S. Representative Ed Rees from Emporia, Kansas, presented a bill that established November 11 as a national holiday titled “Veterans Day.” Abilene native, then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower, signed Veterans Day into law on May 26, 1954.

 A fitting way to celebrate Veterans Day is to recognize some of the military veterans who have received the highest honor given to military personnel: the Medal of Honor. Since its inception in 1863, it has been awarded to 28 Kansans. While many in our armed services have performed heroic actions, the Medal of Honor has specific criteria.

According to the National Medal of Honor Center for Leadership, three requirements must be met:

1. The act must have been in combat against a foreign enemy.

2. The act must have been “an act of gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty.”

3. There must be at least two sworn eyewitness statements documenting the action.

From 1863 to the present, only nine military chaplains have been bestowed this honor. Of those nine, two are buried in Kansas.

The first chaplain to be awarded the Medal of Honor, John Milton Whitehead, moved to Kansas after the Civil War, settled in Topeka, and served as a Sergeant-at-Arms for the Kansas Legislature. He is buried in the Topeka City Cemetery.

Father Emil J. Kapaun, from Pilsen in central Kansas, was also awarded the Medal of Honor. While serving in the Korean War, he refused extraction when Korean troops overran his unit because he would not leave his men. Ridiculed and tortured, Father Kapaun sacrificed his rations and clothing to keep other soldiers alive in the brutal POW camp. He subsequently died at the hands of his captors. Eventually, his remains were identified and brought back to Kansas, where they were interred in Wichita. Every year, there is a pilgrimage from Wichita to Pilsen to honor his memory. To learn more about this remarkable chaplain, you should visit his museum in Pilsen.

The last hero I want to highlight is Second Lieutenant Walter David Ehlers from Manhattan, Kansas. Lieutenant Ehlers fought first in Africa and then Sicily in World War II before landing on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. His courage was evident as he overtook and eliminated three separate machine-gun fortifications by himself, rescued wounded soldiers, and secured abandoned weapons. He was wounded by enemy fire but refused evacuation. Surviving the war, Ehlers was awarded the Medal of Honor and lived to 92 years of age.

We recognize these military heroes on Veterans Day, but each American who has dedicated their life to improving the world for others is heroic as well. The idea of a free people governing themselves required courage from its inception. It still requires bravery to stand up for the principles that have made us the greatest nation the world has ever seen. This reminds me of the words of our local hero, General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower: “Whatever America hopes to bring to pass in the world must first come to pass in the heart of America.” “For history does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.” “A people who values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.”