John Ladd, Survivor of the Sinking of the USAT Dorchester
February 3rd, 1943, would be a dark day in America military history. But would also serve as an inspirational event that would inspire the whole nation in a way very few other events have.
On this dark night in the frigid North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Greenland, four holy fathers of man, four sheppards of very different faiths and background, went forward to meet their holy father united by the belief of their individual faiths and united by their common goal to save the lives of those men around them.
The United States Army Transport (USAT) Dorchester was launched from the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company on March 20, 1926, as a 5,649 ton civilian cruise ship. She was designed to carry up to 314 passengers and a crew of 90 along the East coast between Miami and Boston.
It was the outbreak of World War II that found the Dorchester transformed into an Army Transport vessel in New York by the Atlantic, Gulf, and West Indies SS Company. The conversion included additional lifeboats, armament including a 3 inch 50 caliber gun forward, and a 4 inch 50 caliber gun aft, and an additional four 20mm guns, and changes to the large windows in the pilot house so that they would be reduced to slits to afford more protection. When they finished, the Dorchester was now listed to be able to carry slightly more than 900 passengers and crew.
January 23rd, 1943, found the Dorchester taking on troops in New York bond for the European Theater. Among the crowded 902 passengers and crew embarking aboard the Dorchester that day were four newly graduated Lieutenants in the United States Army; the Reverend George L. Fox of the Methodist Church, Jewish Rabbi Alexander D. Goode, Reverend Clark V. Poling of the Reformed Church in America, and Father John P. Washington of the Roman Catholic Church.
Reverend George L. Fox was born March 15, 1900 in Lewistown, Pennsylvania. Overwhelmed with a desire to serve his country he left high school and lied about his age (he was 17 at the time) in order to join the Army to serve in World War I. Serving as a medical corps assistant, he was highly decorated for bravery and was awarded the Silver Star, Purple Heart and the French Croix de Guerre. Upon his discharge, he entered Moody Institute in Illinois where he met and married his wife, Isadore G. Hurlbut. They would have one son, Wyatt, and a daughter, Mary. Over the coming years he would serve the congregation in Downs, Illinois, while attending Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington. Upon graduation he moved to serve the congregation in Rye, New Hampshire, while attending the Boston University School of Theology. He was ordained a Methodist minister on June 10, 1934, and would head off to serve congregations in Waits River, Union Village, and Gilman, all in Vermont. Reverend George joined the Walter G. Moore American Legion Post and later was appointed state chaplain and historian for the Legion. In mid-1942, that overwhelming urge to serve his country found him once more and he decided to join the Army Chaplain Service. He went on active duty August 8, 1942, the same day his son Wyatt enlisted in the Marine Corps.
Rabbi Alexander D. Goode was born in Brooklyn, New York, on May 10, 1911. Desiring to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a Rabbi, he entered the University of Cincinnati, then on to Hebrew Union College and later received his Ph.D. from John Hopkins University. Rabbi Alex married his childhood sweetheart, Theresa Flax, and they would have a daughter, Rosalie. He received assignments to serve a Synagogue in Marion, Indiana, and Beth Israel Synagogue in York, Pennsylvania. Rabbi Goode applied to become a chaplain with the U.S. Navy in January 1941, but he was not accepted at that time. Right after Pearl Harbor, he tried again, this time with the Army, and went on active duty on August 9, 1942.
Reverend Clark V. Poling was born August 7, 1910 in Columbus, Ohio. His mother died when he was 8 and his father re-married a year later. He would attend Hope College in Holland, Michigan and then Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Reverend Clark later entered Yale University's Divinity School in New Haven, Connecticut and was ordained in the Reformed Church in America. He would be assigned to the First Church of Christ, in New London, Connecticut, and later the First Reformed Church in Schenectady, New York. Reverend Clark would marry Betty Jung and they would have a son, Clark, Jr. (Corky). Two months after his death, his wife would give birth to their daughter, Susan. As the country went to war, he decided to become an Army chaplain. He went on active duty on June 25, 1942.
Father John P. Washington was born in Newark, New Jersey on July 18, 1908. He began his studies at Seton Hall in South Orange, New Jersey, and later attended Immaculate Conception Seminary in Darlington, New Jersey. Ordained a priest on June 15, 1935, his first parish was at St. Genevieve's in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and later at St. Venantius in Orange, New Jersey, and St. Stephen's in Arlington, New Jersey. Shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack he applied for a chaplain in the United States Army and went on active duty May 9, 1942.
Their backgrounds, personalities, and faiths were different. Rabbi Goode, Reverend Poling and Father Washington had all served as leaders in the Boy Scouts of America, but no evidence of any relationship amongst them is known. The four of them would first become associated together when assigned to Army Chaplains School at Harvard University and they quickly became friends. Now they were meeting once more to board the Dorchester to head off to the war.
The Four Chaplains and all aboard the Dorchester knew the dangers that lie below the ocean’s surface. Recently German submarines had been sinking Allied ships at the rate of 100 every month. The Dorchester would be sailing through an area that had become infamous as "Torpedo Junction". The four chaplains kept themselves busy holding religious services and seeing to the morale of the men. Fellow passengers recall them as being inseparable and always in good humor.
The night of February 3, 1943, found the Dorchester nearing the southern tip of Greenland, about 150 miles from its destination. At 12:35 AM an officer aboard the German U-233 spotted the Dorchester through a periscope. The submarine instantly fired three torpedoes at the Dorchester, with two striking the starboard side of the ship far below the waterline. The power aboard the ship was knocked out, hundreds of men were killed immediately by the explosions, and the ship was plunged into darkness and chaos.
The four chaplains instantly sprang into action. Coolly they brought order out of chaos leading the men to where the life jackets were stored and began handing them out. While they were doing this they encouraged the men with prayers and admonitions to keep their courage up, and tended the wounded as best they could. It quickly became apparent that there were not enough life jackets to go around.
Dorchester Captain Danielsen had ordered the men to sleep in their clothing and keep their life jackets on, but many of the soldiers sleeping deep in the ship's hold disregarded the order because of the engine's heat and because the life jackets were uncomfortable. This and the fact that many others had been lost or left behind in the chaos that followed the explosions left too many men for too few life jackets.
Further reducing the effort to save lives of the soldiers was the fact that the ship quickly began to list severely, preventing the launch of some port side lifeboats, and some lifeboats capsized through overcrowding. Realizing the gravity of the situation they now found themselves in and without a word, each of the chaplains took off their life jackets and gave them to the four frightened young men closest to them.
The altruistic action of the four chaplains constitutes one of the purest spiritual and ethical acts a person can make. When giving their life jackets, Rabbi Goode did not call out for a Jew; Father Washington did not call out for a Catholic; nor did the Reverends Fox and Poling call out for a Protestant. They simply gave their life jackets to the next man in line.
The Dorchester sank 27 minutes after the torpedo hit, taking 627 men down with it. Far more would have died but for the orderly distribution of the life jackets by the chaplains. The 230 who had been fortunate enough to reach lifeboats struggled to distance themselves from the sinking ship or they be pulled beneath the ocean swells by the chasm created as the transport slipped into a watery grave. Then, amid the screams of pain and horror that permeated the cold dark night, they heard the strong voices of the Chaplains.
"Shma Yisroel Adonai Elohenu Adonai Echod." "Our Father, which art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done."
Looking back they saw the slanting deck of the Dorchester, its demise almost complete. Braced against the railings were the Four Chaplains. There praying and singing giving strength to others by their final valiant declaration of faith. Their arms were linked together as they braced against the railing and leaned into each other for support.
One of the witnesses to this act, John Ladd, later said, “It was the finest thing I have seen or hope to see this side of Heaven.” As the survivors told the story of the Four Chaplains, their heroism entranced the nation. In their death they illustrated a cause of unity without uniformity, encouraging goodwill and cooperation among all people.
On December 19th, 1944, all four chaplains were posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Distinguished Service Cross. Congress attempted to confer the Medal of Honor on each of the four chaplains, but the stringent requirements for that medal required heroism performed “under fire,” and the bravery and ultimate sacrifice of these men did not technically qualify, since their actions took place after the torpedo attack. Therefore, members of Congress decided to authorize a special medal intended to have the same weight and importance as the Medal of Honor. This award, the Four Chaplains' Medal, was approved by a unanimous act of Congress on July 14, 1960. In 1988, February 3rd was established by a unanimous act of Congress as an annual "Four Chaplains Day.”
In an address recognizing the anniversary of the sinking of the Dorchester on February 3rd, 1951, President Harry Truman said their memories “will stand through long generations to teach Americans that as men can die heroically as brothers so should they live together in mutual faith and goodwill.”
This February 3rd, on the 70th anniversary of the sinking of the USAT Dorchester and also interestingly on a Sunday, please take a moment to remember the story and heroism of the Four Chaplains. Please remember their example that religiously we have more in common than we have in difference. Please remember the unified strength shown through individual prayer while at deaths doorstep.
Please remember that more unites us than divides us. Please remember Reverend George L. Fox, Rabbi Alexander D. Goode, Reverend Clark V. Poling, and Father John P. Washington and their last heroic act of bravery.
