S.S. Dorchester

The S.S. Dorchester was in route to Europe, with over 900 troops aboard, when she was struck by a German torpedo off the coast of Newfoundland, just after midnight on February 3, 1943. The ship lost power and began to sink rapidly.

Among the personnel on board the vessel were four chaplains, all graduates of the Army Chaplains School at Harvard University. As the soldiers began to evacuate the vessel, many of them panicking, the chaplains worked to calm them, guiding them to the lifeboats and handing out life jackets. When there were no more life jackets, the chaplains removed theirs and gave them to other soldiers.

As the ship went under, survivors in the water reported seeing the four chaplains standing on deck, arms linked, singing hymns, and praying for the safety of the men.

“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.”

— Grady Clark, survivor

Sometimes called “The Immortal Chaplains,” the four chaplains who gave their lives aboard the Dorchester eighty years ago today were George Fox, a Methodist minister, Alexander Goode, a rabbi, Clark Poling, a Reformed pastor, and John Washington, a Catholic priest.