This iconic photo has just turned 75 years old
On October 7, 1950, a young priest celebrated Mass by improvising an altar on the hood of a muddy Jeep.
His name was Father Emil Joseph Kapaun, a chaplain of the US army in Korea, during World War II, committed to serving soldiers in the harshest conditions.
In the iconic picture that history has left us, we see him dressed in priestly garments wearing boots full of mud, in front of him the soldier Patrick Schuler is kneeling and assisting him as a minister.
An image that remained in historical memory as "Jeep Mass", that is, the Jeep Mass.
During the months of combat, Father Kapaun earned the reputation of a war hero by bravely serving the troops, rescuing the wounded, recovering the fallen, assisting the living, administering baptisms of converts, confessing soldiers, celebrating Mass in the most unthinkable places.
His exploits are known in particular during the battle of Unsan (North Korea), when 20 thousand soldiers of the Chinese People's Army (PVA) between November 1 and 2, 1950 attacked the United Nations regiment (American and South Korean) where Father Kapaun was.
Despite the order to withdraw, the Catholic priest remained with the 800 men of the Battalion while the rest of the regiment withdrew. It was on that occasion that by defying enemy fire he saved almost 40 men, for which he was later awarded the Medal of Honor.
On that occasion he was captured and imprisoned. He died on May 23, 1951, consumed by illness, cold and hunger, but also by a tireless dedication to his men.
Many survivors remember how he maintained hope even in the darkest moments, dividing what he had.
In particular, he dug up latrines, mediated disputes, smuggled food and drugs for dysentery, comforted the desperate, rejected communist indoctrination and guided the prisoners in prayer.
Over the years, the photograph of the "Jeep Mass" has become an emblem of faith that dares to arrive even in the folds of war, between soldiers forced to kill others for the diabolical logic of power and the world.
In recent days, celebrations have been organized in the United States on the hood of vehicles that evoke that gesture and pilgrimages in memory of Father Kapaun, as a sign of gratitude for having brought God even where it seemed impossible to meet him.
In 1993 John Paul II declared Father Emil Joseph Kapaun Servant of God and, at the beginning of 2025, Francis declared him Venerable, a necessary stage on the path towards canonization.
That image still speaks today because it embodies a word that overcomes the barriers of time: the presence of Christ in the midst of pain and injustice, among the madness of war.