page_title: Religious symbolism in the United States military
section_title: Chaplains as symbol
hierarchical_section_title: Religious symbolism in the United States military / Chaplains as symbol
context_page_description: Religious symbolism in the United States military includes the use of religious symbols for military chaplain insignia, uniforms, emblems, flags, and chapels; symbolic gestures, actions, and words used in military rituals and ceremonies; and religious symbols or designations used in areas such as headstones and markers in national cemeteries, and military ID tags.
  Symbolism sometimes includes specific images included or excluded because of religious reasons, choices involving colors with religious significance, and "religious accommodation" policies regarding the wear of "religious apparel" and "grooming" with military uniforms. Additionally, military chaplains themselves are sometimes regarded as "symbols of faith" for military personnel who face challenges to their faith and values.
context_section_description: The basic words "chaplain" and "chapel" are derived from an ancient story about symbols of religion and faith:
  The story is told about St. Martin of Tours, a compassionate fourth century soldier, who encountered a shivering beggar on a cold winter night. Having no money in his purse, this soldier took off his cloak and slashed it with his sword to give half of it to the beggar. Later that night he saw a vision in which Jesus Christ was wearing the half-cloak. As a result of this experience he became a Christian and was baptized. Ultimately he left the army to devote his life to the church. In time he became the patron saint of the French kings of the Middle Ages. St. Martin's cloak (cappella) was carried into battle by the kings as a banner signifying "the presence of God." But since the cappella was a sacred relic of the church, a priest went along as custodian. This keeper of the cloak, or cappellanus, also tended the king's religious needs, and from his office was derived that of "chaplain." The depository for the cloak became the 'chapel,' the place of worship.
  Chaplains no longer guard a "relic" like St. Martin's cloak, but they themselves have been called symbols of service, faith, hope, and cooperation across faith lines, and even reminders of "the presence of God" in stories such as that of the "Four Chaplains" (sometimes referred to as the "Immortal Chaplains")—two ministers, a Catholic priest, and a rabbi—who each gave up his life jacket to save others when the Dorchester was torpedoed during WWII, and the four Army chaplains ministered to the wounded and dying until they themselves died. That story, told in print, art, and film has become a symbol of "interfaith in action," the phrase used by the Four Chaplains Memorial Foundation, and included on the 1948 postage stamp dedicated to their memory. Vassar College professor Deborah Dash Moore has referred to the story of the Four Chaplains by saying that "The symbolism of their deaths exemplified faith confronting diversity, the triumph of cooperation over religious competition, the ultimate sacrifice by officers for their men, the power of duty over death."
  University of Toronto professor Doris L. Bergen has written that because of the "chaos and terror" encountered during military service, the chaplain becomes "a symbol that somehow, even in the midst of death and fear, there is meaning," and a symbol of the ability to maintain "courage, hope, and steadfastness in the face of alienation and destruction." According to a letter from the three military Chiefs of Chaplains that was included in the 2003 edition of the American Bible Society's "Armed Forces Bible," chaplains are "a visible reminder of the Holy." Similarly, an August 2011 Washington Post "Guest Voice" op-ed noted that:
  In both religion and the military, symbols carry powerful messages. For generations our armed forces chaplains, spiritual leaders in military uniforms, have themselves served as symbols: symbols of faith during times of chaos; of hope during times of despair; and of dreams during times of nightmares. Chaplains have symbolized for countless men and women in uniform that even in war we do not leave our dreams behind; that even during the worst of times we must continue to believe that better times—even the best of times—are yet to come.
  For both military personnel and civilians, the work of chaplains became a symbol of cooperation that crossed many lines, including racial lines at a time when such cooperation was considered noteworthy (and even newsworthy) in the civilian community—as evidenced by a 1943 newsreel of Army Chaplain School training (then at Harvard University) which featured captions such as "White and Negro chaplains come out of the school building and march," and "White and Negro Chaplains perform a drill at Harvard University Chaplain School in Cambridge, Massachusetts."
  Scholars have noted that interfaith cooperation among chaplains in the military led to improved interfaith relations in America—to the point that, at least according to some, it actually "transformed reli
caption: Four Chaplains stamp, 1948
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