HEROIC CHAPLAINS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 307, 28 December 1944, Page 6

HEROIC CHAPLAINS

WHAT GREATER LOVE?

DIED TO SAVE OTHERS SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 13. The United States Army's Distinguished. Service Cross has been conferred posthumously on four j men of GoQ who gave courage and | their own life jackets to others aboard a sinking troop transport. The War Department in Washing-! ton said the awards went to four j Army chaplains who died when the | transport Dorchester was torpedoed j in icy seas off Greenland in the black. hours of the morning of February I 3 1943. The chaplains,'all with the j Army rank of first lieutenant, were: Clark V. Poling, Schnectady, New York, son of Dr. Daniel Poling, editor of the Christian Herald; John P. Washington, son of Mrs. Mary Washington, of Newark, New Jersey; Alexander D. Goode, husband of Mrs Theresa F. Goode, of Washington; and George L. Fox, husband of Mrs. George Fox, of Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts. The Army said survivors reported that fear of the sea made many aboard the Dorchester almost helpless because they were convinced death awaited them if they went over the side. The chaplains, the Army said, "calmed their fears and are given credit for saving men by persuading them to go overboard where there was a chance of rescue." Those who escaped the sinking said they saw the four standing together, handing out lifebelts from a ■ chest—and then when the chest was empty, each removed his own lifebelt and passed it out too. When the ship poised for the final plunge, the four men, representing three faiths linked their arms and prayed together. Two of the chaplainsChaplains Poling and Fox—were Protestants. Chaplain Washington was a Catholic and Chaplain Goode was Jewish.