The four Chaplains went down on the U.S.Troop Ship DORCHESTER when she was torpedoed that bitterly frigid pre-dawn morning of February 3rd, 1943.

Although the DORCHESTER was part of a six ship convoy consisting of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutters TAMPA, COMANCHE and ESCANABA plus two freighters, the water was so cold and the night so dark that only about one third of the ship's compliment could be saved.

There is no doubt that hundreds of the troops packed into the lower parts of the ship must have been lost in the original explosion. The torpedo, or perhaps two, exploded so violently that lifeboats 5 and 7 were smashed although fifty feet above the impact area. With the acrid smoke of the blast still eddying through the passageways and about the deck, many of the men wandered aimlessly, so shocked by the force of the blast that they became disoriented.

The Four Chaplains, Rev. Clark V. Poling (Dutch Reformed), Rabbi Alexander D. Goode (Jewish), Rev. Fr. John P. Washington (Roman Catholic) and Rev. George L. Fox (Methodist), gathered on the deck to rally the men.

Three of the Chaplains were young men but Rev. Fox had been under fire in World War One, before he became a minister. All four remained calm, assisted the troops, gave away their own life jackets to soldiers who had none and then linked arm in arm on the deck of the sinking ship as they prayed for the safety of the others. When last seen they still stood together as the sea closed over their heads.

Distributed by American Legion Lithuanian Post #154