Commemoration of the Chaplains of the Dorchester

We remember four Army chaplains who died on this day in 1943 when the US Navy ship, The USS Dorchester, sank in the frigid waters off the coast of Greenland after being hit by a torpedo launched by a German U-boat. The men had all signed up when the war broke out. They included a young Congregational youth minister, Clark Poling, an elderly Methodist minister by the name of George Fox (who had also been a decorated veteran of WWI), a Roman Catholic priest--Johnny Washington, who had spent time in a gang in New York City before attending seminary and serving in an inner city parish, and lastly, Alexander Goode who was a Jewish rabbi who had also attended medical school. 


900 men were on the ship; only 300 would survive. The torpedo strike occurred before dawn, and hit the boiler room, which took on water rapidly, causing the ship to tilt sharply. Although the men were sleeping with their life vests on, many cast them off as they struggled through the tight portals and passageways to make their way to the deck. The lean of the ship prevented several life boats from being launched, and men were forced to jump into the frigid waters, later recorded to be 19 degrees. 


The four chaplains blessed and encouraged men in the panic, giving their own life vests to other men, who would survive and tell of their selfless acts. Others recall seeing the four men, locked arm in arm in prayer on the stern of the ship as it went down. 


They embodied the words of Jesus in John 15:13: "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." They are immortalized in a stain glass window in the chapel at the Pentagon, and in many churches where memorials to the WWII veterans have been erected.


Holy God, you inspired the Dorchester chaplains to be models of steadfast sacrificial love in a tragic and terrifying time: Help us to follow their example, that their courageous ministry may inspire chaplains and all who serve, to recognize your presence in the midst of peril; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.