The Rabbi, Priest, and Two Ministers who gave their lives so that others might live.
In the midst of WWII, on February 3, 1943, a German Nazi submarine torpedoed the USAT Dorchester near Greenland, with more than 900 US army personnel on board, including four chaplains.
This is the heroic story of Rabbi Alexander Goode, Chaplains George L. Fox, Clark V. Poling, and John P. Washington who gave their lives in the line of duty trying to help the soldiers survive in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic Ocean as the Dorchester sank.
The four immortal chaplains remain to this day a symbol of unity, loyalty and commitment; a recognition that all humans are created in the image of God, and a hope that heroism, humanity, peace and justice will one day reign throughout the world.
- The four chaplains gave their lives without being asked. When their ship was sinking, they handed out all the life preservers that were available and then took off their own and gave them away in order that four other men might be saved. Those four chaplains actually carried out the moral code which we are all supposed to live by. They obeyed the divine commandment that men should love one another. They really lived up to the moral standard that declares: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” … US President Harry S. Truman