four_chaplains

THE FOUR CHAPLAINS

Early on the morning of February 3, 1943, the U.S. Troop Transport Dorchester was steaming through the icy seas off Greenland. Most of the 900 troops aboard were asleep in their bunks. Suddenly, a torpedo smashed into the ship's flank. Frantically pounding up the ladders, the troops milled in confusion on the decks.

In those moments of panic, the coolest men aboard were four U.S. Army Chaplains: 1st Lts. Clark V. Poling; Alexander D. Goode; John P. Washington; and George L. Fox.

The four chaplains led the men to boxes of life jackets and passed them out to the soldiers. When the boxes were empty, they slipped off their own precious life preservers and put them on four young G.I.'s. The Dorchester went down 25 minutes later in a rumble of steam. Some 600 men were lost, but the heroic chaplains had helped save over 200. The last any one saw of them, they were standing on the slanting deck, with their arms linked in prayer to the one God they all served.