A Four Chaplains Memorial Service will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 5 at The American Legion Building, 801 East Washington, Stephenville. Entrance and parking location is on the Northside of the building off Clark Street. Disabled parking available on upper level. The public is invited.
Stephenville High School Student Council patriotism committee will join Turnbow-Higgs American Legion Auxiliary Unit 240 personnel in presenting its annual Four Chaplains Memorial Service, in remembrance of Four Chaplains Day with services, that pay tribute to the courageous chaplains, and the brave young men who lost their lives during World War II on the fateful night of Wednesday, Feb. 3, 1943, when a German U-boat fired a torpedo that struck the Troop Transport ship, Dorchester, killing 672 of the 902 officers and enlisted men, merchant seamen and civilian workers aboard.
Friday, Feb. 3, will mark the 80th anniversary of the sinking of the United States Army Transport Dorchester and the selfless acts of four Army chaplains aboard.
The Dorchester tragically sunk on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 1943, while crossing the North Atlantic, transporting troops to an American base in Greenland.
Many of those survivors owe their lives to the courage and leadership exhibited by four chaplains of different faiths, who, in sacrificing their lives, created a unique legacy of brotherhood.
As soldiers rushed to lifeboats, Reverend George Fox (Methodist), Jewish Rabbi Alexander Goode, Reverend Clark Poling (Dutch Reformed) and Father John Washington (Roman Catholic) comforted the wounded and directed others to safety. One survivor watched the chaplains distribute life jackets, and when they ran out, they removed theirs and gave them to four young men.
As the ship went down, survivors in nearby rafts could see the four chaplains, arms linked and braced against the slanting deck. Their voices could also be heard offering prayers and singing hymns.
—submitted