Four Chaplains
[2] During the early morning hours of February 3, the vessel was torpedoed by the German submarine U-223 off Newfoundland in the North Atlantic.
Their backgrounds, personalities, and denominations were different, although Goode, Poling and Washington had all served as leaders in the Boy Scouts of America.
On December 3, 1917, George embarked from Camp Merritt, New Jersey, and boarded the USS Huron en route to France.
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.
He and Isadora G. Hurlbut of Vermont were married in 1923, when he began his religious career as an itinerant preacher in the Methodist faith.
He was then reunited with Chaplains Goode, Poling and Washington at Camp Myles Standish in Taunton, Massachusetts, where they prepared to depart for Europe on board the Dorchester.
He was raised in Washington, D.C., attending Eastern High School, eventually deciding to follow his father's footsteps by studying for the rabbinate at Hebrew Union College (HUC), where he graduated with a B.H.
In October 1942, he was transferred to Camp Myles Standish in Taunton, Massachusetts, and reunited with Chaplains Fox, Poling and Washington, who had been among his classmates at Harvard.
With the outbreak of World War II, Poling decided to enter the Army, wanting to face the same danger as others.
He studied at Seton Hall, in South Orange, New Jersey, to complete his high school and college courses in preparation for the Catholic priesthood.
Shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack of December 7, 1941, he received his appointment as a chaplain in the United States Army, reporting for active duty on May 9, 1942.
He was named chief of the Chaplains' Reserve Pool, in Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, and in June 1942, he was assigned to the 76th Infantry Division in Ft. George Meade, Maryland.
[11] The Dorchester had been a 5,649 ton civilian liner, 368 feet long with a 52-foot beam and a single funnel, originally built in 1926 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, for the Merchants and Miners Line, operating ships from Baltimore to Florida, carrying both freight and passengers.
"[3] During the early morning hours of February 3, 1943, at 12:55 am, the vessel was torpedoed by the German submarine U-223 off Newfoundland in the North Atlantic.
By the time additional rescue ships arrived, "hundreds of dead bodies were seen floating on the water, kept up by their life jackets.
[34][35] The medals were presented posthumously to the next of kin of each of the four chaplains by Secretary of the Army Wilber M. Brucker at Fort Myer, Virginia, on January 18, 1961.
[36] Ceremonies and services are held each year on or around the February 3 Four Chaplains Day by numerous military and civilian groups and organizations.
In 1998, February 3 of that year was established by senate resolution 169–98 as Four Chaplains Day to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the sinking of United States Army transport Dorchester and subsequent heroism of these men.
[39] Civitan International, a worldwide volunteer association of service clubs, holds an interfaith Clergy Appreciation Week every year.
[42] On February 14, 2002, as part of the annual award of the Immortal Chaplains Prize for Humanity, a special reconciliation meeting took place between survivors of both the American and German sides of the sinking of the Dorchester.
The ceremony was attended by Ernie Heaton, who survived the Dorchester sinking, and Richard Swanson who was on the Coast Guard rescue team.
[50] Another phrase included in an earlier design that was not part of the final stamp was "died to save men of all faiths".
[1] In his dedication speech, the President said, "This interfaith shrine ... 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.
Thomas McCarthy of the National Catholic Welfare Conference explained to Time magazine, "canon law forbids joint worship.
[55] In 1972, Grace Baptist Church moved to Blue Bell and sold the building to Temple University two years later.
