The Four Chaplains

In the early morning of February 3, 1943, the German submarine U-223, patrolled the icy waters of the North Atlantic searching for Allied targets to sink.  She discovered a six ship convoy that included the U.S.A.T. Dorchester, an Army transport ship sailing for a base in Greenland.  At 12:55 A.M., the U-boat commander gave the order to fire on the Dorchester.  Seconds later the torpedo struck its target and gravely damaged the ship.  The Dorchester would sink in less than 30 minutes.  Six hundred and seventy-five men died when she went down.

Though it represents the greatest loss in any World War II American ship convoy, the sinking of U.S.A.T. Dorchester is known for something completely different.  Packed in with the others aboard the ship were four men whose actions taken at that early hour instantly inspired those present, and whose actions continue to inspire those who hear their story.  George L. Fox, Alexander B. Goode, John P. Washington, and Clark V. Poling…names that most people do not recognize.  

Aboard the Dorchester was not the first time George Fox found himself in the crosshairs of the enemy and putting the needs of others ahead of his own.  During the First World War, fighting near the Champagne region in France, Fox removed his own gas mask and placed it on a wounded soldier before carrying him to safety.  In another instance, Fox did the same thing to a French soldier, instantly earning him the Croix de Guerre, France’s highest decoration.  It seemed as though personal sacrifice ebbed through Fox’s veins.

Alexander Goode excelled in sports and in the classroom, receiving among other things, a PhD from Johns Hopkins University.  He wanted to be a rabbi like his father.  He also desired to become a chaplain for the U.S. Navy.  Initially turned down, he reapplied after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and this time was accepted to the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps.  He would later meet his three brothers-in-arms while stationed at Camp Myles Standish in Massachusetts.  

John Washington knew early on that God called him to the priesthood.  Service and helping others were in his blood.  When the family struggled to make it, young John took a job delivering newspapers.  But his call to the clergy almost did not happen.  Once when John returned home from school, he fell ill with a fever.  The doctor could not get the fever down and eventually John fell unconscious.  Fearing the worst, the doctor called for a priest to anoint and bless John.  Desperately needing a miracle, they got one the next morning.  John’s fever broke.  He later told his parents that God must have saved him for something.

Clark Poling seemed destined to follow his father’s footsteps.  Graduating from Rutgers University and then Yale Divinity School, Clark became, like his father Daniel, a minister.  Young Clark believed in the goodness of all men until the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.  One day he commented about enlisting and going to Europe to join the fighting, but that he would not become a chaplain like his father, who had served during the First World War.  Eventually Clark’s father persuaded him to join the chaplaincy and work to help other men who fought on the front lines.  Little did Daniel know that the ship which carried Clark and hundreds of others would come under attack from a German submarine, much like the ship that carried him to war more than 20 years earlier.

Four men, living four completely different lives, yet somehow inextricably connected.  They developed a special bond during those days of waiting in Massachusetts that became quite noticeable when the Dorchester set sail.  Soldiers on board remembered how the four chaplains from different faiths came together as if they had known each other for years.  Many had never seen a Catholic and a Protestant get along so well.  This would serve the chaplains well in the days to come, and especially on that fateful morning when their selfless acts would save many of the men aboard the ship.  

To fully understand, we need to know how this unfolded.  After the Dorchester left the New York harbor, the captain received word that U-boats were patrolling the waters looking for easy prey.  He ordered the men aboard to wear their warmest clothing and to put on their life jackets, but because of the heat in the ship’s lower deck compartments, many did not heed the captain’s command.  Others ignored him because the life jackets were not comfortable to wear.  This decision would soon come to haunt many aboard.  

When the torpedo struck, instant chaos ensued.  The electricity went out and men stumbled to find their way in the dark, most leaving their life jackets behind.  Many would never make it out from the below deck compartments.  Those that did find their way to the deck scrambled for the lifeboats.  In the disorder and confusion, men overcrowded the boats causing many of them to capsize, spilling the men into the freezing water.  Seeing this, the ship’s captain called upon the four chaplains to calm the men and to organize the evacuation.  As men reached the deck from below, Fox, Goode, Washington, and Poling would hand them a life jacket, uttering words of peace and calm in the hopes of quieting the men.  However, with most of the issued life jackets still below deck, the chaplains ran out very quickly.  When this happened, the most selfless act occurred.  One by one, each chaplain took off his own life jacket and gave it to a man who was without.

Many who survived the sinking would later testify to the final moments before the Dorchester slipped below the water’s surface.  They noticed the four chaplains linked arm in arm, praying in accordance with each man’s faith.  Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.  The four chaplains perfectly embodied these words of Jesus.  On this day these men were leaders with a purpose.