Vincent Capodanno was already a Roman Catholic priest when he entered the military as a lieutenant in the Navy Chaplin Corps in 1965. He was later assigned to a Marine battalion and was on his second tour of duty in Vietnam when he was killed while tending to the wounded and administering last rites during fighting near the village of Dong Son on September 4, 1967. While initially wounded with three bullets, he refused to leave and kept up his work until being killed along with seventeen other men by machine gun fire.
Capodanno was awarded the Medal of Honor after his death, with the official ceremony being held on January 7, 1969. The memorial outside the Father Capodanno Chapel at Fort Wadsworth (part of the Staten Island Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area) was erected in 1977. If you are taking the Fort Wadsworth Walking Tour, you will pass right by it. There are dozens of memorials to Capodanno around the United States, as well as buildings and even a ship, the USS Capodanno, named after him.
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Last updated on December 10, 2024