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Chaplain Capodanno received his commission in the grade of lieutenant 28 December 1965. Having requested duty with Marines in Vietnam, he joined the First Marine Division in 1966 as Battalion Chaplain. Marines affectionately called Chaplain Capodanno the "grunt padre" for his ability to relate well with soldiers and his willingness to risk his life to minister to the men. He extended his one year tour by six months in order to continue his work with the men. While seeking to aid a wounded corpsman he was fatally wounded 4 September 1967 by enemy sniper fire while assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, in Quang Tin Province. He was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor "for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty..." He had previously been awarded the Bronze Star Medal for bravery under battle conditions. The USS Capodanno (DE1093) keel was laid on 25 February 1972, and she was christened and launched 21 October 1972 and commissioned 17 November 1973. She is designed for optimum performance in antisubmarine warfare. Deployments have included operations in the Western Atlantic, West Africa, the Mediterranean, and South America. She was decommissioned on 30 July 1993.
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Chaplain
Capodanno was born in Richmond County, New York, 13 February 1929. After
receiving his training at Maryknoll Seminaries in Bedford, Massachusetts
and New York City, he was ordained 7 June 1957 by the late Francis Cardinal
Spellman, Archbishop of New York and Military Vicar of the United States
Military Ordinariate. He spent the following eight years in Taiwan and
Hong Kong under the auspices of the Catholic Foreign Mission society.