by Gerald Boerner
Today we recognize the self-sacrificial behavior of four chaplains during World War II. Their transport ship, the USST Dorchester, was hit be a German torpedo while in the vicinity of Sicily. These four chaplains handed out life preservers to the men; when they ran out, they took their own preservers off and gave them to the troops. This helped to save many men, but cost the lives of the four chaplains. They have been honored by a postage stamp and a number of memorials. War brings out the best of men and this is another example of that valor. GLB
“…without a Respectable Navy, Alas America!”
— Captain John Paul Jones
“I have not yet begun to fight!”
— Captain John Paul Jones
“Don’t give up the ship!”
— Captain James Lawrence
“We have met the enemy and they are ours…”
— Oliver Hazard Perry
“Damn the torpedoes, Full speed ahead!”
— Admiral David Glasgow Farragut
“You may fire when you are ready Gridley.”
— Commodore George Dewey
“I wish to have no Connection with any Ship that does not Sail fast for I intend to go in harm’s way.”
— Captain John Paul Jones
“It follows than as certain as that night succeeds the day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, and with it, everything honorable and glorious.”
— President George Washington
The Four Chaplains of World War II
The Four Chaplains were four United States Army chaplains who gave their lives to save other soldiers during the sinking of the troop ship USAT Dorchester during World War II. They helped other soldiers board lifeboats and gave up their own life jackets when the supply ran out. The chaplains joined arms, said prayers, and sang hymns as they went down with the ship.
Sinking of the Dorchester
The chaplains, who all held the rank of lieutenant, were the Methodist Reverend George L. Fox, Rabbi Alexander D. Goode, the Roman Catholic Priest John P. Washington and the Reformed Church in America Reverend Clark V. Poling. They were sailing on the USAT Dorchester, a coastal liner that had been converted to a troop transport for World War II. On the night of February 3, 1943, the vessel, travelling in convoy, was torpedoed by the German submarine U-223 off Newfoundland in the North Atlantic.
The torpedo knocked out the Dorchester’s electrical system, leaving the ship dark. Panic set in among the men on board, many of them trapped below decks. The chaplains sought to calm the men and organize an orderly evacuation of the ship, and helped guide wounded men to safety. As life jackets were passed out to the men, the supply ran out before each man had one. The chaplains removed their own life jackets and gave them to others. They helped as many men as they could into lifeboats, and then linked arms and, saying prayers and singing hymns, went down with the ship.
As I swam away from the ship, I looked back. The flares had lighted everything. The bow came up high and she slid under. The last thing I saw, the Four Chaplains were up there praying for the safety of the men. They had done everything they could. I did not see them again. They themselves did not have a chance without their life jackets.
— Grady Clark, survivor
In all, 230 of the 904 men aboard the ship were rescued. Life jackets offered little protection from hypothermia which killed most men in the water. Water temperature was 34 °F (1 °C) and air temperature was 36 °F (2 °C). By the time additional rescue ships arrived “…hundreds of dead bodies were seen floating on the water, kept up by their life jackets.”
The chaplains were also honored
with a stamp, issued in 1948
and by an act of Congress
designating February 3
as “Four Chaplains Day.”
On December 19, 1944, all four chaplains were posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Distinguished Service Cross.. The Four Chaplains’ Medal was established by act of Congress on July 14, 1960, and was presented posthumously to their next of kin by Secretary of the Army Wilber M. Brucker at Ft. Myer, Virginia on January 18, 1961.
The Chaplains
George L. Fox… George L. Fox (March 15, 1900 – February 3, 1943) was a Methodist minister and a lieutenant in the United States Army. He was one of the Four Chaplains who gave their lives to save other soldiers during the sinking of the USAT Dorchester during World War II.
George L. Fox was born in Lewistown, Pennsylvania in 1900, one of five children. At 17 he ran away to join the army and served on the Western Front during World War I as a medical orderly, receiving the Silver Star, the Purple Heart and the Croix de Guerre for his meritorious service. Following the war, Fox completed high school and briefly worked for a Trust Company. Fox married in 1923 and his son, Wyatt Ray was born a year later. Fox studied at Moody Bible Institute and Illinois Wesleyan University, graduating in 1931. Following graduation, Fox became an itinerant Methodist preacher, holding posts in Downs, Illinois and Rye, New Hampshire before joining the Boston University School of Theology and becoming an ordained minister in 1934.
That same year, he took over the church in Waits River, Vermont, and his daughter, Mary Elizabeth, was born. He remained in Vermont, moving church twice and becoming the state chaplain and historian for the American Legion. Fox joined the army again in 1942. His son enlisted in the Marine Corps on the same day. Fox was united with the other Four Chaplains for his voyage to Europe later that year following a position in the chaplain’s school in Harvard, and departed with over 900 soldiers on the Dorchester in January 1943.
Alexander D. Goode… Alexander D. Goode (May 10, 1911 – February 3, 1943) was a rabbi and a lieutenant in the United States Army. He was one of the Four Chaplains who gave their lives to save other soldiers during the sinking of the USAT Dorchester during World War II
Born in 1911, one of four children to a Brooklyn rabbi, Goode excelled at sports at high school in Washington, D.C. He became a rabbi after graduating from the University of Cincinnati and in 1937 Hebrew Union College. In 1940 he received his Ph.D from Johns Hopkins University. He was married in 1935 to Teresa Flax, niece of Al Jolson, with whom he had one daughter, Rosalie.
Goode served as a rabbi in Marion, Indiana and York, Pennsylvania.
In 1941, he applied to become a Navy chaplain but was turned down. The following year he was accepted into the Army, being posted to Harvard where he studied at the chaplain’s school in preparation for deployment to Europe followed by brief service at an airbase in Goldsboro, North Carolina. In October 1942 he joined the other members of the Four Chaplains and was detailed to embark on the Dorchester a few months later.
John P. Washington… John P. Washington (18 July 1908 – 3 February 1943) was a Roman Catholic priest and a lieutenant in the United States Army. He was one of the Four Chaplains who gave their lives to save other soldiers during the sinking of the USAT Dorchester during World War II.
Born as one of seven children to Irish immigrants Frank and Mary Washington, John was a religious boy from a young age, rapidly becoming an altar boy at his local church in Newark, New Jersey, where he grew up. A talented sportsman and intelligent and hard-working child, he performed well at school and was accepted into Seton Hall Preparatory School, then located in South Orange, New Jersey, where he completed high school and took courses designed to prepare him for the priesthood. Following his graduation he moved to the Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology and took minor orders in 1933, being ordained a priest in 1935.
He served at several New Jersey parishes over the next six years, before joining the Army upon hearing of the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. After brief periods in Indiana and Maryland, Washington was dispatched to Harvard University where he took a course preparing him for deployment for Europe and became acquainted with the others of the Four chaplains for the first time. In January 1943 he joined them on board the Dorchester for the trip to Europe via Greenland, and set off on the fatal journey.
Clark V. Poling… Clark V. Poling (August 7, 1910 – February 3, 1943) was a minister in the Reformed Church in America and a lieutenant in the United States Army. He was one of the Four Chaplains who gave their lives to save other soldiers during the sinking of the USAT Dorchester during World War II.
Poling was born in Columbus, Ohio to Daniel A. Poling, an Evangelical minister, and Susie Jane Vandersall. He was raised in Auburndale, Massachusetts where he attended Whitney Public School. His mother died in 1918; his father remarried in 1919 and converted to the Baptist faith, becoming an ordained minister. The family moved to Poughkeepsie, New York and Poling attended Oakwood High School where he excelled on the football team.
After graduation he attended Hope College in Michigan and then Rutgers University in New Jersey, graduating in 1933. He then attended Yale Divinity School, graduating in 1936. He then took up a position as pastor of the First Reformed Church in Schenectady, New York where he settled with his wife Betty and their son Corky. A daughter, Susan Elizabeth, was born three months after his death.
At the outbreak of war in 1941, Poling immediately volunteered for service as an Army chaplain in the footsteps of his father, who had served as a chaplain during World War I. He initially served in Mississippi with a transport regiment.
Other Events on this Day
- In 1690…
Massachusetts authorizes the first paper currency issued in America. - In 1913…
The Sixteenth Amendment, authorizing a federal income tax, is ratified. - In 1917…
The United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany after a German submarine sinks the line Housatonic off the coast of Sicily. - In 1943…
The Army transport ship Dorchester sinks after being hit be a German torpedo. - In 1949…
Rock stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson are killed when their chartered plane crashes in Iowa.
Dates and events based on:
William J. Bennett and John Cribb, (2008) The American Patriot’s Almanac Daily Readings on America. (Kindle Edition)
Background information is from Wikipedia articles on:
Wikipedia: The Four Chaplains of World War II…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Chaplains
Wikipedia: George L. Fox…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_L._Fox
Wikipedia: Alexander D. Goode…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_D._Goode
Wikipedia: John P. Washington…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_P._Washington
Wikipedia: Clark V. Poling…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clark_V._Poling
Web Sites and Blogs:
History Navy Military: Famous Navy Quotes: Who Said Them…
http://www.history.navy.mil/trivia/trivia02.htm
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