The Four Chaplains

The Four Chaplains

In November, 1942 four young men "found each other" while attending Chaplain's School at Harvard University. They had enough in common to bond them together. At age 42, George Fox was the "older brother". The youngest was 30-year old Clark Poling, and less than three years separated him from the other two, Alexander Goode and John Washington. A common cause brought them together, the desire to render service to their Nation during the critical years of World War II.

George Fox and Clark Poling were Protestant ministers. Alexander Goode was a Jewish rabbi, and John Washington was a Catholic priest. These four friends were all assigned to a troop ship called the “Dorchester.” It was transporting U.S. Army soldiers from the United States to Greenland on their way to the war in Europe. 920 men were on board. They were crammed into a small space for the trip. Most had never been on a ship, and they were sea-sick. They were afraid. They needed the confidence that a chaplain can bring, and the chaplains worked together on the 11-day trip to make confidence in God a reality for these men. It didn’t matter to the soldiers what religion the chaplain represented, and it didn’t matter to the chaplains what religion the soldier belonged to. All four chaplains were serving the same God.

It was an eleven-day trip, but on the night of the tenth day, an enemy submarine launched two torpedoes that made direct hits on the Dorchester. The lights went out below decks and everything was in confusion. Each man had been issued a life jacket, and had been told to wear it at all times, even at night, but it was hot below decks, and most soldiers put their life jackets aside. After the ship was hit, in the darkness it was impossible to find the life jackets again.

The four chaplains came into the darkness and organized the soldiers to get up to the ship’s deck. Then the chaplains began passing out the spare life jackets that were stored above decks. One man started to go back, and Chaplain Goode asked why. “To get my gloves,” the man said. The Rabbi took off his own gloves and said, “Take these. I have an extra pair.” Of course Chaplain Goode didn’t have an extra pair, but the man took them.

There were a lot more soldiers than there were stored life jackets, and when the supply of life jackets ran out, each of the four chaplains took off his own and gave it to a soldier.

The Dorchester sank 27 minutes after it had been hit by the torpedoes, and as it went down, those who had been fortunate enough to get into life boats heard prayers and songs, Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish, coming from the four chaplains who were linked arm in arm on the ship’s deck.

Only 230 men out of the 920 on board survived. The four chaplains, who had given up their life jackets, went down with the ship.

Why did they give up their life jackets? Why didn’t they just get into a life boat and try to save their own lives? Each of them served God in a different way, but each of them believed that God wants us, above all, to serve our fellow human beings, even if it costs us our own lives to perform this service.

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The world’s faiths teach that we should reach out and serve people who need our help, even if fear that such service will be difficult. This is what “bravery” is about.

In the Torah (Jewish law) we read that our “brother” is anyone who lives in any town in our land, and we are to help our “brother.” “If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhearted and freely lend him whatever he needs.” (Deuteronomy 15:7-8, NIV)

In the New Testament, St. Paul wrote, “The commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not covet,’ and whatever other commandments there may be, are summed up in this one rule, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Romans 13:9-10, NIV)

In the Qur’an (Koran), we read that those who are righteous before God (Allah), make a promise to serve other people. “They feed, for the love of Allah, the indigent, the orphan, and the captive, saying, ‘We feed you for the sake of Allah alone: No reward to we desire from you, nor thanks.” (76:8-9.)

There are many other examples we could give of such religious teachings that lead us to bravely help other people.

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Qur’an quoted from THE MEANING OF THE HOLY QUR’AN (interpreted by ‘Abdullah Yūsuf ‘Ali), Beltsville, Maryland: Amana Publications, 2001 (1422 AH).

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