Four Chaplains The Four Chaplains , also sometimes referred to as the " Immortal Chaplains , " were four United States Army chaplains who gave their lives to save other civilian and military personnel during the sinking of the troop ship USAT " Dorchester " on February 3 , 1943 , during World War II . They helped other soldiers board lifeboats and gave up their own life jackets when the supply ran out . The chaplains joined arms , said prayers , and sang hymns as they went down with the ship . The men . The four men were relatively new chaplains who all held the rank of first lieutenant . They included Methodist minister the Reverend George L . Fox , Reform - Rabbi Alexander D . Goode ( Ph . D ) , Roman Catholic priest the Reverend John P . Washington , and Reformed Church in America minister the Reverend Clark V . Poling . Their backgrounds , personalities , and faiths were different , although Goode , Poling and Washington had all served as leaders in the Boy Scouts of America . They met at the Army Chaplains School at Harvard University , where they prepared for assignments in the European theater , sailing on board USAT " Dorchester " to report to their new assignments . George L . Fox . George L . Fox was born March 15 , 1900 , in Lewistown , Pennsylvania , the eldest of eight children . When he was 17 , he left school and lied about his age in order to join the Army to serve in World War I . He joined the ambulance corps in 1917 , assigned to Camp Newton D . Baker in Texas . On December 3 , 1917 , George embarked from Camp Merritt , New Jersey , and boarded the USS " Huron " en route to France . As a medical corps assistant , he was highly decorated for bravery and was awarded the Silver Star , Purple Heart and the French Croix de Guerre . Upon his discharge , he returned home to Altoona , where he completed high school . He entered Moody Bible Institute in Illinois in 1923 . He and Isadore G . Hurlbut of Vermont were married in 1923 , when he began his religious career as an itinerant preacher in the Methodist faith . He later graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington , served as a student pupil in Rye , New Hampshire , and then studied at the Boston University School of Theology , where he was ordained a Methodist minister on June 10 , 1934 . He served parishes in Union Village and Gilman , Vermont , and was appointed state chaplain and historian for the American Legion in Vermont . In 1942 , Fox volunteered to serve as an Army chaplain , accepting his appointment July 24 , 1942 . He began active duty on August 8 , 1942 , the same day his son Wyatt enlisted in the Marine Corps . After Army Chaplains school at Harvard , he reported to the 411th Coast Artillery Battalion at Camp Davis . He was then united with Chaplains Goode , Poling and Washington at Camp Myles Standish in Taunton , Massachusetts , where they prepared to depart for Europe on board the USAT " Dorchester " . Alexander D . Goode . Reform - Rabbi Alexander D . Goode ( Ph . D ) was born in Brooklyn , New York on May 10 , 1911 , the son of Rabbi Hyman Goodekowitz . He was raised in Washington , D . C . , attending Eastern High School , eventually deciding to follow his father ' s footsteps by studying for the rabbinate himself , at Hebrew Union College ( HUC ) , where he graduated with a B . H . degree in 1937 . He later received his Ph . D . from Johns Hopkins University in 1940 . While studying for the rabbinate at HUC , he worked at the Washington Hebrew Congregation during summer breaks . He originally applied to become a Navy chaplain in January 1941 , but was not accepted . After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 , he applied to the Army , receiving his appointment as a chaplain on July 21 , 1942 . Chaplain Goode went on active duty on August 9 , 1942 , and was selected for the Chaplains School at Harvard . Chaplain Goode was then assigned to the 333rd Airbase Squadron in Goldsboro , North Carolina . In October 1942 , he was transferred to Camp Myles Standish in Taunton , Massachusetts and reunited with Chaplains Fox , Poling and Washington , who were classmates at Harvard . Clark V . Poling . Clark V . Poling was born August 7 , 1910 , in Columbus , Ohio , the son of Evangelical Minister Dan Poling , who was rebaptized in 1936 as a Baptist minister . Clark Poling studied at Yale University ' s Divinity School in New Haven , Connecticut and graduated with his B . D . degree in 1936 . He was ordained in the Reformed Church in America , and served first in the First Church of Christ , New London , Connecticut , and then as Pastor of the First Reformed Church in Schenectady , New York . He married Betty Jung . With the outbreak of World War II , Poling decided to enter the Army , wanting to face the same danger as others . His father , who had served as a World War I chaplain , told him chaplains risk and give their lives , too — and with that knowledge , he applied to serve as an Army chaplain , accepting an appointment on June 10 , 1942 as a chaplain with the 131st Quartermaster Truck Regiment , reporting to Camp Shelby , Hattiesburg , Mississippi , on June 25 . Later he reported to Army Chaplains School at Harvard , where he would meet Chaplains Fox , Goode , and Washington . John P . Washington . John P . Washington was born in Newark , New Jersey on July 18 , 1908 . He studied at Seton Hall in South Orange , New Jersey to complete his high school and college courses in preparation for the Catholic priesthood . He graduated in 1931 with an A . B . degree , entering Immaculate Conception Seminary in Darlington , New Jersey , where he received his minor orders on May 26 , 1933 . He served as a subdeacon at all the solemn masses , and later became a deacon on December 25 , 1934 . He was elected prefect of his class and was ordained a priest on June 15 , 1935 . Father Washington ' s first parish was at St . Genevieve ' s in Elizabeth , New Jersey . He later served at St . Venantius for a year . In 1938 , he was assigned to St . Stephen ' s in Kearny , New Jersey . Shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack of December 7 , 1941 , he received his appointment as a chaplain in the United States Army , reporting for active duty on May 9 , 1942 . He was named Chief of the Chaplains Reserve Pool , in Ft . Benjamin Harrison , Indiana , and in June 1942 , he was assigned to the 76th Infantry Division in Ft . George Meade , Maryland . In November 1942 , he reported to Camp Myles Standish in Taunton , Massachusetts and met Chaplains Fox , Goode and Poling at Chaplains School at Harvard . The ship . The " Dorchester " was a 5 , 649 ton civilian cruise ship , 368 feet long with a 52 - foot beam and a single funnel , originally built in 1926 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company , for the Merchants and Miners Line , operating ships from Baltimore to Florida , carrying both freight and passengers . It was the third of four liners being built for the Line . The ship was converted for military service in World War II as a troop transport , and renamed United States Army Transport ( USAT ) " Dorchester " . The conversion was done in New York by the Atlantic , Gulf , and West Indies ( AGWI ) SS Company , and included additional lifeboats and liferafts ; guns ( a 3 inch 50 caliber gun forward , and a 4 inch 50 caliber gun aft , in addition to four 20mm guns ) ; and changes to the large windows in the pilot house so that they would be reduced to slits to afford more protection . A liner designed for 314 passengers and 90 crew would now be able to carry slightly more than 900 passengers and crew . The story . The " Dorchester " left New York on January 23 , 1943 , en route to Greenland , carrying the four chaplains and approximately 900 others , as part of a convoy of three ships ( SG - 19 convoy ) . Most of the military personnel were not told the ship ' s ultimate destination . The convoy was escorted by Coast Guard Cutters " Tampa " , " Escanaba " , and " Comanche " . The ship ' s captain , Hans J . Danielsen , had been alerted that Coast Guard sonar had detected a submarine . Because German U - boats were monitoring sea lanes and had attacked and sunk ships earlier during the war , Captain Danielsen had the ship ' s crew on a state of high alert even before he received that information , ordering the men to sleep in their clothing and keep their life jackets on . " Many soldiers sleeping deep in the ship ' s hold disregarded the order because of the engine ' s heat . Others ignored it because the life jackets were uncomfortable . " During the early morning hours of February 3 , 1943 , at 12 : 55 a . m . , the vessel was torpedoed by the German submarine " U - 223 " off Newfoundland in the North Atlantic . The torpedo knocked out the " Dorchester " ' s electrical system , leaving the ship dark . Panic set in among the men on board , many of them trapped below decks . The chaplains sought to calm the men and organize an orderly evacuation of the ship , and helped guide wounded men to safety . As life jackets were passed out to the men , the supply ran out before each man had one . The chaplains removed their own life jackets and gave them to others . They helped as many men as they could into lifeboats , and then linked arms and , saying prayers and singing hymns , went down with the ship . According to some reports , survivors could hear different languages mixed in the prayers of the chaplains , including Jewish prayers in Hebrew and Catholic prayers in Latin . Some 230 of the 904 men aboard the ship were rescued . Life jackets offered little protection from hypothermia , which killed most men in the water . The water temperature was and the air temperature was . By the time additional rescue ships arrived , " hundreds of dead bodies were seen floating on the water , kept up by their life jackets . " In art . In addition to the stained glass windows recalling the chaplains and their heroism , paintings include Awards . On December 19 , 1944 , all four chaplains were posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Distinguished Service Cross . Congress also attempted to confer the Medal of Honor on each of the four chaplains , but the stringent requirements for that medal required heroism performed “ under fire , ” and the bravery and ultimate sacrifice of these men did not technically qualify , since their actions took place after the torpedo attack . Therefore , members of Congress decided to authorize a special medal intended to have the same weight and importance as the Medal of Honor . This award , the Four Chaplains ' Medal , was approved by a unanimous act of Congress on July 14 , 1960 , through Public law 86 - 656 of the 86th Congress . The medals were presented posthumously to the next of kin of each of the Four Chaplains by Secretary of the Army Wilber M . Brucker at Ft . Myer , Virginia on January 18 , 1961 . In 2006 , National Executive Committee of The American Legion , at the Legion ’ s 88th National Convention in Salt Lake City , passed a resolution urging Congress to revisit the issue of awards , and award the Medal of Honor to Fox , Goode , Poling and Washington . Remembrance . Four Chaplains Day . In 1988 , February 3 was established by a unanimous act of Congress as an annual " Four Chaplains Day . " Some state or city officials commemorate the day with official proclamations , sometimes including the order that flags fly at half - mast in memory of the fallen chaplains . In some cases , official proclamations establish observances at other times : for example , North Dakota legislation requests that the Governor issue an annual proclamation establishing the first Sunday in February as " Four Chaplains Sunday . " The day is also observed as a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America . U . S . postage stamp . The chaplains were honored with a commemorative stamp that was issued in 1948 , and was designed by Louis Schwimmer , the head of the Art Department of the New York branch of the U . S . Post Office Department ( now called the USPS ) . This stamp is highly unusual , because until 2011 , U . S . stamps were not normally issued in honor of someone other than a President of the United States until at least ten years after his or her death . The stamp went through three revisions before the final design was chosen . None of the names of the chaplains were included on the stamp , nor were their faiths ( although the faiths had been listed on one of the earlier designs ) : instead , the words on the stamp were " These Immortal Chaplains . . . Interfaith in Action . " Another phrase included in an earlier design that was not part of the final stamp was " died to save men of all faiths . " By the omission of their names , the stamp commemorated the event , rather than the individuals " per se " , thus obfuscating the ten - year rule in the same way as later did stamps honoring Neil Armstrong in 1969 and Buzz Aldrin in 1994 , both of whom were still alive . Chapel of Four Chaplains . The Chapel of the Four Chaplains was dedicated on February 3 , 1951 , by President Harry S . Truman to honor these chaplains of different faiths in the basement of Grace Baptist church in Philadelphia . In 1974 , that congregation moved to Blue Bell , and sold the building to Temple University . Today Temple University is renovating that building . In his dedication speech , the President said , “ This interfaith shrine . . . will stand through long generations to teach Americans that as men can die heroically as brothers so should they live together in mutual faith and goodwill . ” The Chapel dedication included a reminder that the interfaith team represented by the Four Chaplains was unusual . Although the Chapel was dedicated as an All - Faiths Chapel , no Catholic priest took part in the dedication ceremony , because , as Msgr . Thomas McCarthy of the National Catholic Welfare Conference explained to Time magazine , " canon law forbids joint worship . " In addition to supporting work that exemplifies the idea of " Interfaith in Action " , recalling the story of the Four Chaplains , the Chapel presents awards to individuals whose work reflects interfaith goals . 1984 was the first time that the award went to a military chaplain team composed of a rabbi , priest , and minister , recalling in a special way the four chaplains themselves , when the " Rabbi Louis Parris Hall of Heroes Gold Medallion " was presented to Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff ; Catholic Priest Fr . George Pucciarelli ; and Protestant Minister Danny Wheeler — the three chaplains present at the scene of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing . The story of these three United States Navy Chaplains was itself memorialized in a Presidential speech ( text version ) by President Ronald Reagan , on April 12 , 1984 . Ceremonies and services . Ceremonies and services are held each year on or around the Feb 3 " Four Chaplains Day " by numerous military and civilian groups and organizations . Civitan International , a worldwide volunteer association of service clubs , holds an interfaith Clergy Appreciation Week every year . The event honors the sacrifice of the Four Chaplains by encouraging citizens to thank the clergy that serve their communities . The First Parish Church ( Unitarian Universalist ) in Dorchester , Massachusetts , hosts an ecumenical " Service of the Four Chaplains " each January . The American Legion commemorates the day through services and programs at many posts throughout the nation . On February 14 , 2002 , as part of the annual award of the Immortal Chaplains Prize for Humanity , a special reconciliation meeting took place between survivors of both the American and German sides of the sinking of the " Dorchester " . Kurt Röser and Gerhard Buske , who had been part of the crew of the German U - boat that had torpedoed the Dorchester met with three Dorchester survivors , Ben Epstein , Walter Miller , and David Labadie , as well as Dick Swanson , who had been on board the Coast Guard Cutter Comanche , escorting the Dorchester ' s convoy . On February 3 , 2011 , the Library of Congress Veterans History Project and the United States Navy Memorial co - hosted a special program at the Memorial , in Washington , D . C . The Jewish Chaplains Monument at Arlington National Cemetery ' s Chaplains ' Hill was dedicated on October 24 , 2011 . The monument honors 14 Jewish chaplains who died during their military service . The monument is a granite upright with a bronze plaque , similar to the three other monuments at the site honoring Catholic , Protestant and World War I chaplains . Rabbi Goode ' s name is the first listed on the plaque . The Jewish Chaplains Monument was approved by the United States Congress in May 2011 , and the monument itself , designed by Debora Jackson of Long Island , New York , was reviewed and approved by the U . S . Fine Arts Commission on June 16 , 2011 . The dedication ceremony was held in Arlington ' s Memorial Amphitheater . The ceremony was attended by Ernie Heaton , who survived the Dorchester sinking , and Richard Swanson who was on the Coast Guard rescue team .