Bill Nelson: “today I pay tribute to four American heroes who embody the spirit of what it means to serve your fellow man. Those…”

“today I pay tribute to four American heroes who embody the spirit of what it means to serve your fellow man. Those heroes are the four Army chaplains who served on board the United States Transport Ship Dorchester in 1943--Methodist Minister Reverend George L. Fox, Rabbi Alexander D. Goode, Roman Catholic Priest John P. Washington, and Reformed Church in America minister Reverend Clark V. Poling. On February 2, 1943, the Dorchester was making its way across the North Atlantic, carrying 904 service men, merchant seamen, and civilian workers. This area was under constant patrol by German submarines; it was a dangerous area for American vessels and several ships had already been sunk between Newfoundland and Greenland, the Dorchester's intended destination. At 12:55 a.m. on February 3, a German U-boat spotted the Dorchester and fired 3 torpedoes at the American ship, delivering a fatal blow. The Dorchester began to take on water and would sink beneath the freezing ocean in under 25 minutes. Many had been killed or injured in the initial blast, and panic set in as the passengers and crew attempted to find life vests and get into lifeboats. Many of the surviving passengers recall the calm disposition of the four chaplains who made their way to a storage locker and handed out lifejackets. When there were no more lifejackets, the chaplains removed their own and gave them to four passengers who were without.…”