WASHINGTON (KAKE) - Senator Jerry Moran announced Thursday the remains of Father Emil Kapaun, a native of Pilsen, Kansas, have been identified.

Moran released the following statement after receiving the news from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA)

“This evening I was notified that the remains of Marion County-native Father Emil Kapaun, a priest of the Diocese of Wichita, have been identified. Father Kapaun served as an Army Chaplain during WWII and the Korean War, and was taken as a Prisoner of War in 1951. He continued to minister to Americans as a POW before passing away on May 23, 1951.

“In 2011, I introduced legislation to bestow Father Kapaun with the Presidential Medal of Honor, which was awarded in 2013. In 1993, Pope John Paul II declared Father Kapaun a Servant of God, the first step toward sainthood. I am glad that his family has finally been granted closure after Father Kapaun’s selfless service to our nation.”

Thursday evening, the Catholic Diocese of Wichita issued a statement saying it was notified by the Kapaun family of the findings.

According to the diocese, Father Kapaun had served as a priest in the Wichita diocese and as a U.S. Army Chaplain in both WWII and the Korean War.

In November of 1950, he was taken as a prisoner of war where he continued to serve those imprisoned with him. He died in the prison camp on May 23, 1951, but his remains were never identified, the Wichita diocese said.

"After much research the DPAA recently concluded that he was among the unidentified soldiers buried in the National Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii," the diocese said in a statement.

Father Kapaun began his journey to sainthood in 1993. The diocese conducted an investigation into his and the findings were presented to the Congregation for Saints in Rome for review.