The Four Chaplains

The Four Chaplains. . , It was here at the former Army Port of Embarkation, Pier 11, in Stapleton, Staten Island, that the USAT Dorchester loaded with a contingent of officers and men left port on the morning of January 22nd, 1943 for a destination unknown to meet a convoy of ships heading out into the cold Atlantic Ocean., It was known as Torpedo Junction, the U-boat infested waters of the North Atlantic during World War II. In those waters of February 3, 1943 it would become another statistic in the “Ships Lost at Sea”, but unlike others before it, what would take place on the deck of the Dorchester would be a significant event for all time, a moment of heroic and noble human drama, a deed that was in the words of one survivor, “the finest thing I have ever seen, or hope to see, this side of heaven”., Pushing through the treacherous waters with 900 American service men aboard bound for Greenland, the Dorchester left its convoy a few hours short of its destination, not an unusual maneuver. A Nazi submarine, stalk the ship undetected, took this opportunity to fire a torpedo straight toward the ship’s aging flank. The missile struck amidships and exploded in the boiler room. Many aboard died instantly. Some were trampled below deck. others, jolted from their bunks, half asleep, clambered to reach the decks of the stricken vessel. The ship, taking on water rapidly, began listing to starboard. because security reasons prevented use of distress flares, the escort vessels, still close enough to assist, pushed on into the darkness, unaware that the Dorchester was sinking. Overcrowded life boats capsized; rafts drifted away before anyone could reach them., On deck, amid confusion and terror, Army chaplains George L. Fox, Alexander D. Goode, Clark V. Poling and John O. Washington moved about calming frightened men, directing bewildered soldiers to lifeboats, and distributing life jackets with calm precision. Soon the supply of life jackets was exhausted, yet four young soldiers, afraid and without life vests, stood waiting. Quickly, the chaplains stripped off their own jackets and forced them on the young soldiers., The four men of God, one Catholic, one Jewish and two Protestant, had given away their only means of saving themselves in order to save others. Men rowing away from the stricken ship in lifeboats saw the chaplains clinging to each other on the slanting deck. Their arms were linked together, their heads were bowed as they prayed to the One God with whom each of them loved and served. The Dorchester sank beneath the icy waters carrying with it the four chaplains and some 668 servicemen., This plaque memorializes the heroic act performed by these four men of God and the legacy of the brotherhood and respect for their fellow man., (Small dedication plaque out of frame.)