EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING THE NAMING OF A NAVAL COMBAT VESSEL AFTER FATHER VINCENT CAPODANNO.

SEC. 1022. EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING THE NAMING OF A NAVAL COMBAT VESSEL AFTER FATHER VINCENT CAPODANNO.(a) Findings.—Congress makes the following findings:(1) Father Vincent Capodanno was born on February 13, 1929, in Staten Island, New York.(2) After attending Fordham University for a year, he entered the Maryknoll Missionary Seminary in upstate New York in 1949, and was ordained a Catholic priest in June 1957.(3) Father Capodanno’s first assignment as a missionary was working with aboriginal Taiwanese people in the mountains of Taiwan where he served in a parish and later in a school. After several years, Father Capodanno returned to the United States for leave and then was assigned to a Maryknoll school in Hong Kong.(4) Father Vincent Capodanno volunteered as a Navy Chaplain and was commissioned a Lieutenant in the Chaplain Corps of the United States Naval Reserve in December 28, 1965.(5) Father Vincent Capodanno selflessly extended his combat tour in Vietnam on the condition he was allowed to remain with the infantry.(6) On September 4, 1967, during a fierce battle in the Thang Binh District of the Que-Son Valley in Vietnam, Father Capodanno went among the wounded and dying, giving last rites and caring for the injured. He was killed that day while taking care of his Marines.(7) On January 7, 1969, Father Vincent Capodanno was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for comforting the 124 STAT. 4349 wounded and dying during the Vietnam conflict. For his dedicated service, Father Capodanno was also awarded the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the Presidential Unit Citation, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm, and the Vietnam Campaign Medal.(8) In his memory, the U.S.S. Capodanno was commissioned on September 17, 1973. It is the only Naval vessel to date to have received a Papal blessing by Pope John Paul II in Naples, Italy, on September 4, 1981.(9) The U.S.S. Capodanno was decommissioned on July 30, 1993.(b) Sense of Congress.—It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of the Navy should name a combat vessel of the United States Navy the “U.S.S. Father Vincent Capodanno”, in honor of Father Vincent Capodanno, a lieutenant in the Navy Chaplain Corps.