STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. (May 27, 2006)  -- Medal of Honor recipient Chaplain Vincent Capodanno died in the same manner as he had lived: selflessly.
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Sailors, Marins, Capodanno family members and guests gathered May 27th at the Fort Wadsworth base chapel on Staten Island, N.Y. for a memorial service to commemorate the life and combat heroism of a Navy Chaplain, Lt. Vincent Capodanno.

A well-attended memorial Mass followed by a wreath laying ceremony marked Capodanno’s life of service and selfless acts while with Marines in Quang Tin Province, Republic of Vietnam.

“Chaplain Capodanno received the Medal of Honor for his actions on 4 September 1967 in Vietnam. But more than that single day, we assemble today to commemorate his whole life,” said Rear Adm. Louis Iasiello, 23rd Chief of Navy Chaplains in his keynote speech.

“Memorial Day is an occasion when Americans honor Americans. It is the day when we recall the 650,000 patriots who have given their lives for liberty, justice and freedom for all. Chaplain Capodanno was one such patriot. He selflessly gave his life, so that others might live,” said Iasiello.

Marines were dispatched for Operation SWIFT in 1967 to search-out and destroy a North Vietnamese Army force of undetermined size moving into the Khe Sanh Valley. The 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines suddenly found themselves vastly outnumbered five to one by 2,500 enemy soldiers.

A murderous battle ensued and additional Marines were committed to the fight. Capodanno prevailed over the commanding officer to allow him forward with the relief force to minister to his Marines.

“Father Vincent served back-to-back tours in Vietnam. He displayed an annoying habit of repeatedly requesting to go forward so he could tend his beloved Marines when they most needed it,” said Cmdr. J.P. Hedges, Chaplain of 10th Marines, in his remarks about Lt. Capodanno.

With the Marines in danger of being overrun, chaos prevailing and the wounded littering the ground, Capodanno ran across an open field raked by mortar, small arms and intense automatic weapon fire to assist a beleaguered platoon.

“Father Vincent was moving about the field among the wounded administering first aid and last rites,” said a former Marine who fought in the battle. Former Marine Lance Cpl. James Hamfeldt of Morristown, NJ attended the ceremony and tearfully recalled, “We thought the world of him. When he died, we all died a little.”

When a mortar shell exploded near the chaplain, he sheltered the wounded and received shrapnel wounds to the face and part of his hand was severed. He refused medical treatment and continued to assist corpsmen.

Capodanno noticed an isolated corpsman tending wounded Marines across the knoll in an enemy machine gun’s direct line of fire. The wounded 38-year old chaplain sprinted toward the position, and as the machine gunner opened up he shielded the corpsman and a cluster of Marines by placing his body between them and the hostile fire.

“We counted 27 gunshot wounds in his body,” related an eyewitness interviewed after the battle. Capodanno was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor and a U.S. Navy fast-frigate today bears his name.

Capodanno worked on Wall Street before deciding to become a priest. He served as a Maryknoll missionary for seven years in China before volunteering to be a Navy chaplain. He grew up on Staten Island, N.Y. the youngest of nine children.

James Capodanno, the chaplain's eldest surviving brother and a World War II Marine veteran, attended the memorial Mass.

“We were poor growing up during the Depression,” said James Capodanno. “I think Vincent learned from our family’s experience of being poor. It moved him to dedicate his life to service and making sure that no one he met felt they were in need and alone.”

On May 21, 2006, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC, Father Vincent Capodanno was declared a “Servant of God,” the first step toward becoming a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.