The Four Chaplains

January 20, 2025

This is based on an actual radio conversation between a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, Abraham Lincoln, and Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October 1995. Canadians: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

Americans: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision.

Canadians: Negative. You must divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

This conversation repeated a few times when the Americans screamed: This is the aircraft Carrier USS Lincoln. We are accompanied by destroyers, cruisers, and numerous support vessels. I demand that you change your course 15 degrees North. Countermeasures will be taken to ensure the safety of these ships.

Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call.

Our military is a source of great humor. As this story illustrates, it is also a source of great sacrifice and heroism. It was the evening of Feb. 2, 1943, and the U.S.A.T. Dorchester was crowded to capacity, carrying 902 servicemen, merchant seamen, and civilian workers. Once a luxury coastal liner, the 5,649-ton vessel had been converted into an Army transport ship. The Dorchester, one of three ships in the convoy, was moving steadily across the icy waters from Newfoundland toward an American base in Greenland. The ship’s captain was concerned because the U.S.S. Tampa had detected a submarine with its sonar.

The Dorchester was now only 150 miles from its destination when a German submarine, U-223, spotted it. One of three missiles hit the ship, and in less than 20 minutes, it was sinking in the Atlantic’s icy waters. According to those present, four Army chaplains brought hope in despair and light in darkness through the pandemonium. Those chaplains were Lt. George L. Fox, Methodist; Lt. Alexander D. Goode, Jewish; Lt. John P. Washington, Roman Catholic; and Lt. Clark V. Poling, Dutch Reformed.

Quickly and quietly, the four chaplains spread out among the soldiers. They tried to calm the frightened, tend to the wounded, and guide the disoriented toward safety. One witness, Private William B. Bednar, found himself floating in oil-smeared water surrounded by dead bodies and debris. “I could hear men crying, pleading, praying,” Bednar recalls. “I could also hear the chaplains preaching courage. Their voices were the only thing that kept me going.”

Another sailor, Petty Officer John J. Mahoney, tried to reenter his cabin, but Rabbi Goode stopped him. Concerned about the cold Arctic air, Mahoney explained he had forgotten his gloves. “Never mind,” Goode responded. “I have two pairs.” The rabbi then gave the petty officer his own gloves. In retrospect, Mahoney realized that Rabbi Goode was not conveniently carrying two pairs of gloves, and that the rabbi had decided not to leave the Dorchester.

Most of the men were topside by this time, and the chaplains opened a storage locker and began distributing life jackets. It was then that Engineer Grady Clark witnessed an astonishing sight. When no more lifejackets were in the storage room, the chaplains removed theirs and gave them to four frightened young men. “It was the finest thing I have seen or hope to see this side of heaven,” said John Ladd, another survivor who saw the chaplains’ selfless act. Of the 902 men aboard the U.S.A.T. Dorchester, 672 died, leaving 230 survivors. When the news reached American shores, the nation was stunned by the tragedy and heroic conduct of the four chaplains.(adapted from www.fourchaplains.org)

Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). That night, Reverend Fox, Rabbi Goode, Reverend Poling, and Father Washington passed life’s ultimate test. In doing so, they became an enduring example of extraordinary faith, courage, and selflessness.

Jesus’ model of selfless sacrifice is even more profound because He didn’t just give His life for His friends, like the disciples; he gave His life for everyone so that everyone can experience salvation in His name and live eternally with God. Jesus’ sacrifice was incredible for so many reasons. He allowed His creation to kill Him. He suffered the horrors of crucifixion when He could have called down an army of angels to destroy His enemies. He died falsely charged, abandoned and humiliated when He was completely innocent of all charges. It wasn’t the three nails that held him on the cross. It was His love for you and me.

When was the last time you confessed Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Please do it again today, or maybe for the first time. What was the greatest sacrifice you ever made for someone else? May God be glorified in all you think, say, and do.

(To learn more about Al Earley or read previous articles, see www.lagrangepres.org. You can purchase my book, My Faith Journal, at Amazon.com, a compilation of 366 articles as a daily devotional).