Four Chaplains – In Memoriam

On February 3, 1943 the U.S.S. Dorchester was sunk.  This ship was an Army Transport headed for the American base in Greenland.  The Dorchester was part of a convoy that was supposed to protect it from roving Nazi U-boats.

Aboard the ship were four Army chaplains: Reverend George Fox (Methodist), Jewish Rabbi Alexander Goode, Reverend Clark Poling (Dutch Reformed), and Father John Washington (Roman Catholic).  Around midnight, a U-boat discovered the convoy and fired upon it, hitting the Dorchester and damaging it badly.  The ship was sinking.  All nine hundred men aboad scrambled to get off.  Only two hundred thirty men survived.

Among those lost that day were the four chaplains who, on their way to safety, stopped to direct their fellow soldiers to safety.  Before they themselves could escape the dying ship, however, they each met a man who had no lifejacket.  The chaplains then removed their own lifejackets and handed them over to the four men who had no life preservers.  The men escaped while the four chaplains stood on the deck and prayed as they went down with the doomed vessel.

Today, these brave chaplains are barely remembered for their sacrificial heroism.  The American Legion still remembers them, as it works to make sure that no American soldier from any war is ever forgotten.  I hope this post will help to keep these courageous chaplains’ deeds in public memory in some small way as, around the country, others remember the four chaplains who gave their lives so others could live.

May they never be forgotten!

Related Articles:

http://www.legion.org/library/6245/bravery-four-chaplains

http://www.legion.org/magazine/225769/more-story

www.immortalchaplains.org

www.fourchaplains.org

Four Chaplains

Today (February 3, 2015) is the anniversary of the sinking of the ship U.S.S. Dorchester.  The ship was an Army Transport headed for the American base in Greenland in 1943.  Word War II was raging and the ship was part of a convoy that was supposed to protect it from roving Nazi U-boats.

Aboard the Dorchester were four Army chaplains: Reverend George Fox (Methodist), Jewish Rabbi Alexander Goode, Reverend Clark Poling (Dutch Reformed), and Father John Washington (Roman Catholic).  Around midnight, a U-boat discovered the convoy and fired upon it, hitting the Dorchester and damaging it badly.  The ship was sinking.  All nine hundred men aboard the ship scrambled to get off.  Only two hundred thirty men survived.

Among those lost that day were the four chaplains who, on their way to safety, stopped to direct their fellow soldiers to safety.  Before they themselves could escape the dying ship, however, they each met a man who had no lifejacket.  Each chaplain then removed their own lifejackets and handed them over to the four men who had no life preservers.  The men escaped while the four chaplains stood on the deck and prayed as they went down with the doomed ship.

Today, these brave chaplains are barely remembered for their sacrificial heroism.  The American Legion still remembers them, as it works to make sure that no American soldier from any war is ever forgotten.  I hope this post will help to keep these courageous chaplains’ deeds in public memory in some small way as, around the country, others remember the four chaplains who gave their lives so others could live.

May they never be forgotten!

The Mithril Guardian

Related Articles:

http://www.legion.org/library/6245/bravery-four-chaplains

http://www.legion.org/magazine/225769/more-story

www.immortalchaplains.org

www.fourchaplains.org

Never Forget

On February 3, 2014, there was a celebration nationwide at American Legion posts.  These celebrations were in solemn remembrance of four chaplains who lost their lives when in World War II their ship, the U.S.S. Dorchester, was sunk on its way to Greenland.

I read this story many years ago when I was young; while the names of the four men fled my mind, their story never left me.  So I was surprised to learn this January that the “four chaplains,” as they are known, have a day of remembrance all their own – February 3.

I did not have the opportunity to post anything about these brave men on Feb. 3, 2014.  Today I have re-posted an article from the American Legion website (http://www.legion.org/library/6245/bravery-four-chaplains) telling of their heroism.  At the bottom of the article, the writer for the American Legion was kind enough to add two other websites that would allow readers to learn more about the Four Chaplains.

May they never, ever be forgotten!

The Mithril Guardian

The bravery of four chaplains
(from http://www.legion.org/library/6245/bravery-four-chaplains)

 

On Feb. 3, 1943, the United States Army Transport Dorchester – a converted luxury liner – was crossing the North Atlantic, transporting more than 900 troops to an American base in Greenland. Aboard the ship were four chaplains of different faiths: Reverend George Fox (Methodist), Jewish Rabbi Alexander Goode, Reverend Clark Poling (Dutch Reformed) and Father John Washington (Roman Catholic).

Around 12:55 a.m., a German U-boat fired a torpedo that struck Dorchester’s starboard side, below the water line and near the engine room. The explosion instantly killed 100 men and knocked out power and radio communication with Dorchester’s three escort ships. Within 20 minutes, the transport sank and more than 670 men died.

As soldiers rushed to lifeboats, the four chaplains spread out, comforting the wounded and directing others to safety. One survivor, Private William Bednar, later said, “I could hear men crying, pleading, praying. I could also hear the chaplains’ preaching courage. Their voices were the only thing that kept me going.”

Another survivor, John Ladd, watched the chaplains’ distribute life jackets, and when they ran out, they removed theirs and gave them to four young men. “It was the finest thing I have seen, or hope to see, this side of heaven,” he recalled.

As Dorchester sank, the chaplains were seen linked arm in arm, praying.

Fox, Goode, Poling and Washington were posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Purple Heart, and in 1948, Congress declared Feb. 3 to be Four Chaplains Day. The four chaplains were also honored with a U.S. postage stamp that year.

Because of the Medal of Honor’s strict requirements of heroism under fire, Congress authorized a one-time Chaplain’s Medal for Heroism on July 14, 1960. The award was presented to the chaplains’ next of kin Jan. 18, 1961.

On Feb. 3, 1951, President Truman dedicated a chapel in the chaplains’ honor at Grace Baptist Church in Philadelphia. When the building was sold, the chapel fell into disrepair, and the foundation overseeing the chapel moved it to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in 2001. The chapel was repaired in 2004 and given the name Chapel of the Four Chaplains.

In 2006, at The American Legion’s 88th National Convention in Salt Lake City, the National Executive Committee passed a resolution that supported awarding the Medal of Honor to Fox, Goode, Poling and Washington.

Every year, American Legion posts nationwide remember Four Chaplains Day with memorial services. To request information on how to conduct a Four Chaplains Memorial Service, contact Charles Graybiel (cgraybiel@legion.org) of the Americanism and Children & Youth Division at (317) 630-1212.

Learn more about the four chaplains by visiting The Immortal Chaplains Foundation (www.immortalchaplains.org) and The Four Chaplains Memorial Foundation (www.fourchaplains.org).