Honoring our Military: Self-Sacrifice Tale One for the Ages

The Washington Times ran this piece on Sunday. It is so moving and perfect for my Tuesday time of remembering and honoring our military. I have included part of it below.

Self-sacrifice tale one for the ages
Julia Duin

Just after midnight on Feb. 3, 1943, an act of extraordinary unselfishness by a group of men became a legend of martyrdom and sacrifice.

When the Army ship Dorchester was torpedoed by the Germans just south of Greenland that night, its passengers and crew had 25 minutes to get off the boat. As 902 people went for the life jackets, it quickly was discovered there weren't near enough. Of the 13 lifeboats, only two functioned.

In the ship's final minutes, Methodist senior chaplain George Lansing Fox, Rabbi Alexander Goode, Dutch Reformed minister Clark V. Poling and John P. Washington, a Roman Catholic priest, were helping passengers leave the vessel. Then four men appeared, all of them without life jackets.

The chaplains quickly gave up their own vests and went down with the ship, perishing in the freezing water. Survivors saw them, locked arm in arm, praying and singing the Navy hymn, "Eternal Father, Strong to Save" just before the ship dove beneath the waves.

It was a night as dramatic as the sinking of the Titanic but without a blockbuster movie to record the drama.

"The Four Immortal Chaplains," as they are now known, have been honored many times, including on a stamp issued in their honor by the U.S. Postal Service. The first Sunday in February is known as "Four Chaplains Sunday."