The Medal of Honor belonging to Father Vincent Capodanno will be unveiled Tuesday at its new home at The Basic School that already bears his name.

The 4 p.m. ceremony at the Capodanno Chapel, whose theme will appropriately be “Serving Alongside Marines,” will formally mark the local debut of the Medal of Honor posthumously awarded to the Navy lieutenant who gallantly gave his own life for the Marines with whom he served during the Vietnam War. The Capodanno family donated the Medal of Honor to TBS in September to assure that it would be properly taken care of and displayed prominently.

The medal, which will be enclosed in a glass case, will be available in the chapel for all to see. Among the dignitaries expected to attend are Rear Adm. Brent W. Scott, chaplain of the Marine Corps, and Col. Christian F. Wortman, commanding officer, The Basic School.

“Now we get the chance to tie everything together,” said Chaplain Christopher Earley, The Basic School’s chaplain who led a small contingent of Marines to Staten Island, New York, in September to accept the medal from the Capodanno family. “Now we will have the reason why we named this chapel after him last year.”

Capodanno, who was affectionately known as “The Grunt Padre” because of his affinity for the Marines with whom he served, was awarded the Medal of Honor — the nation’s highest award for valor — after giving his life on Sept. 4, 1967 while trying to provide comfort to wounded and dying Marines.

He disregarded orders to remain in the rear and instead rushed to join the beleaguered Marines from Mike Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. Mike Company, which was under the operational control of 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, had sustained heavy casualties and was nearly overrun after running into a numerically superior North Vietnamese Army force of 2,500 men at the start of Operation Swift.

Capodanno, who remained at the front despite a bullet wound to his right hand and damage to his right arm as result of an NVA mortar round, was killed after seeing a corpsman cut down out in the open and running out to shield the injured sailor from further harm.

He is among the nine chaplains to have received the Medal of Honor of the nearly 3,500 that have been presented in our nation’s history, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

Capodanno was among the 54 Marines killed on Sept. 4, 1967, according to the Combat After Action Report, making it bloodiest day of the 1/5’s tenure in the Vietnam War.

— Writer: jhollis@quanticosentryonline.com