The Four Chaplains

In the early morning hours of February 3, 1943, the United States Army Transport ship, Dorchester, was torpedoed in the waters of the North Atlantic by a German submarine.  As the ship began to sink beneath the icy surface, four men moved about the troops offering comfort and encouragement.  The men were the chaplains on the ship – two Protestant ministers, Reverend George Fox and Reverend Clark Poling, a Jewish rabbi, Alexander Goode and a Catholic priest, Father John P. Washington.

What the chaplains did next is quite amazing – they took off their life jackets and gave them to four troops because the ship’s supply had run out.  Eyewitness accounts give the description of the last anyone saw of the Four Chaplains – standing against the ship’s railing, arms linked and praying.

This brief introduction to these four men merely scratches the surface of a story of heroism, faith and sacrifice.  What makes their story so important to our parish is that Saint Stephen’s was the last assignment of Father Washington before he left for the war.

To read more about the Four Chaplains, please visit:  www.fourchaplains.org