Alexander D . Goode Alexander David Goode ( May 10 , 1911 – February 3 , 1943 ) was a rabbi and a lieutenant in the United States Army . He was one of the Four Chaplains who gave their lives to save other soldiers during the sinking of the USAT " Dorchester " during World War II Life . Born in Brooklyn , New York , in 1911 , Goode was one of four children of Brooklyn rabbi Hyman Goodekowitz . Raised in Washington , D . C . , Goode excelled at sports at Eastern High School . He became a rabbi after graduating from the University of Cincinnati and in 1937 Hebrew Union College ( HUC ) . While studying at HUC , he spent summers working as a rabbinic student at the Washington Hebrew Congregation . In 1940 , he received his Ph . D from Johns Hopkins University . He was married in 1935 to Teresa Flax , niece of Al Jolson , with whom he had one daughter , Rosalie . Goode served as a rabbi in Marion , Indiana , and York , Pennsylvania . In 1941 , Goode founded Boy Scout Troop 37 in York as a multi - cultural mixed race troop , the first troop in the U . S . to have scouts earn Catholic , Jewish , and Protestant awards . In that same year , he applied to become a Navy chaplain but was turned down . The following year he was accepted into the Army , with orders to Harvard where he studied at the chaplain ' s school in preparation for deployment to Europe followed by brief service at an airbase in Goldsboro , North Carolina . In October 1942 , he joined the other members of the Four Chaplains and was detailed to embark on the " Dorchester " a few months later . Death . In late 1942 , Goode was transferred to Camp Myles Standish in Taunton , Massachusetts , and attended Chaplains School at Harvard University . There he met fellow chaplains George L . Fox , Clark V . Poling and John P . Washington . In January 1943 , the chaplains embarked on board the USAT " Dorchester " , which was transporting over 900 soldiers to the United Kingdom via Greenland . On February 2 , 1943 , the German submarine " U - 223 " spotted the convoy on the move and closed with the ships , firing a torpedo which struck the " Dorchester " shortly after midnight . Hundreds of men packed the decks of the rapidly sinking ship and scrambled for the lifeboats . Several of the lifeboats had been damaged and the four chaplains began to organize frightened soldiers . They distributed life jackets from a locker ; when the supply of life jackets ran out , each of the chaplains gave his to other soldiers . When the last lifeboats were away , the chaplains prayed with those unable to escape the sinking ship . 27 minutes after the torpedo struck , the " Dorchester " disappeared below the waves with 672 men still aboard . The last anyone saw of the four chaplains , they were standing on the deck , arms linked and praying together . Remembrance . The four chaplains were all awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Purple Heart and received national acclaim for their courage and self - sacrifice . A chapel in their honor was dedicated on February 3 , 1951 , by President Harry S . Truman at Grace Baptist Church in Philadelphia . The Four Chaplains ' Medal was established by act of Congress on July 14 , 1960 , and was presented posthumously to their next of kin by Secretary of the Army Wilber M . Brucker at Ft . Myer , Virginia , on January 18 , 1961 . Goode is honored with a feast day along with the other Four Chaplains on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America on February 3 .