The American Legion Department of California’s Four Chaplains’ Day Inter-Faith Service will be held at Saint Mary’s Catholic Church, 12050 E. North Avenue in Sanger, on Saturday, February 3, 2024, at 10:00 A.M. American Legion members, family, friends, and the public are all invited to attend. R.S.V.P.’s will be greatly appreciated by February 1, 2024, by calling The American Legion Department of California, 559-875-8387.
This year will mark the 81st anniversary of the heroic four chaplains who gave up their life jackets so that others might live and went to their deaths. Early on the morning of February 3, 1943, the U.S. Troop Transport DORCHESTER was steaming through the icy seas off Greenland. Most of the 900 troops aboard were asleep in their bunks. Suddenly, a torpedo smashed into the ship’s flank. Frantically pounding up the ladders, the troops milled in confusion on the decks.
In those moments of panic, the bravest men aboard were four U.S. Army Chaplains: 1st Lts. Clark V. Poling, Alexander D. Goode, John P. Washington, and George L. Fox.
The four chaplains led the men to boxes of life jackets and passed them out to the soldiers. When the boxes were empty, they slipped off their own precious life preservers and put them on four young G.I.’s. The U.S.A.T. DORCHESTER went down 25 minutes later in a rumble of steam. 673 men were lost, but the heroic chaplains had helped save 230. The last anyone saw of them, they were standing on the slanting deck with their arms linked in prayer to the one God they all served.
This beautiful and solemn religious service will begin at 10:00A.M., with Department Chaplain Kathy Cash serving as Chairman. The public is invited to attend and please R.S.V.P. to 559-875-8387, or e-mail Cheryl@calegion.org on or before February 1, 2024. Refreshments will be served in the social hall immediately after the ceremony.
“Four Chaplains’ Inter-Faith Service” marks the start of Religious Emphasis Week by The American Legion each year.
Author: caLegion HQ
Chartered and incorporated by Congress in 1919, The American Legion is the nation’s largest veterans service organization and its Department of California is dedicated to serving the approximately 2 million veterans living in communities across the Golden State.
My cousin, Olaf Hansen, a medical doctor, had just returned from a visit to Denmark and was on the Dorchester when it was torpedoed off Greenland. He did not survive. He and his parents were from the Svanneke area of Bornholm (An island east of mainland Denmark). The community has considerable “memorabilia in his honor.