- This event has passed.
Four Chaplains Day
February 3, 2022
Each year on February 3rd, Four Chaplains Day of remembrance is celebrated across the country. It honors four military chaplains who sacrificed their own lives to save the lives of their fellow service members during WWII.
Sinking of the SS Dorchester
After the four new chaplains had completed Chaplain School at Harvard, they all boarded the USAT Dorchester to travel to Europe and report to their new assignments. The Dorchester left New York on Jan. 23, 1943, with a convoy of ships headed for the Army Command Base at Narsarsuaq in southern Greenland. The vessel carried a total of 904 service members.
Because German U-Boats were known to monitor sea lanes, and because Coast Guard sonar detected submarine activity in the area the convoy would travel through, the ship’s captain Hans J. Danielsen ordered the ship’s crew to be on high alert. This included orders for the men to sleep in their clothing and keep their life jackets on most of the time. Due to the heat deep in the ship’s hold, many men disregarded these orders and slept without clothes. Many also opted not to wear their life jackets due to how bulky and uncomfortable these were.
On Feb. 3, 1943, at 12:55 a.m., German submarine U-223 torpedoed the Dorchester off the coast of Newfoundland. This blow knocked out the ship’s electrical system. As darkness set in, so did panic, as many men were trapped below decks. In the midst of this chaos, the chaplains worked together to try and instill calm and also help as many men as they could. This cooperation was deemed extraordinary at the time due to the four being from such different backgrounds and beliefs.
There are numerous eye-witness accounts of the four chaplains’ heroism. When the supply of life jackets ran out before each man had one, the chaplains removed their own life jackets and gave them to others. The chaplains also helped as many men as they could into lifeboats.
Petty Officer John J. Mahoney recalled that, when he attempted to reenter his cabin to retrieve his gloves for protection against the Arctic cold, Rabbi Goode stopped him, said, “Never mind. I have two pairs,” and gave Mahoney gloves. The petty officer later realized the sacrifice Rabbi Goode had made: the rabbi had not had two pairs of gloves, but given his only gloves to Mahoney with the intention to remain on the Dorchester.
As he floated in the frigid Arctic water, surrounded by debris, oil, and dead bodies, Pvt. William B. Bednar heard “men crying, pleading, praying. I could also hear the chaplains preaching courage. Their voices were the only thing that kept me going.”
Grady Clark, another survivor, said, “As I swam away from the ship, I looked back. The flares had lighted everything. The bow came up high and she slid under. The last thing I saw, the four chaplains were up there praying for the safety of the men. They had done everything they could. I did not see them again. They themselves did not have a chance without their life jackets.” The four then linked arms, said prayers, and sang hymns as they went down with the ship.
Because the water temperature was 34 degrees and the air temperature was 36 degrees, hundreds of men died due to hypothermia before rescue ships came. Of the 904 men aboard the ship, only 230 were rescued.
Posthumous Medals
On Dec. 19, 1944, Congress posthumously awarded each of the chaplains the Purple Heart and the Distinguished Service Cross. Congress also attempted to posthumously confer the Medal of Honor on each chaplain. However, because the chaplains had acted after the torpedo attack was over, and this medal required heroism performed “under fire,” they did not technically qualify. In response, members of Congress authorized the Four Chaplains’ Medal, a special medal intended to have the same weight and importance as the Medal of Honor. It was approved by a unanimous act of Congress on July 14, 1960, and Secretary of the Army Wilber M. Brucker presented the medals to the next of kin of each chaplain at Ft. Myer, Virginia on Jan. 18, 1961.
More details
You can read more about the Four Chaplains at www.army.mil/article/34090/chaplain_corps_history_the_four_chaplains