George L . Fox George Lansing Fox ( March 15 , 1900 – February 3 , 1943 ) was a Methodist minister 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 . George L . Fox was born in Lewistown , Pennsylvania in 1900 , one of five children . At 17 he ran away to join the army and served on the Western Front during World War I as a medical orderly , receiving the Silver Star , the Purple Heart and the Croix de Guerre for his meritorious service . Following the war , Fox completed high school and briefly worked for a Trust Company . Fox married in 1923 and his son , Wyatt Ray was born a year later . Fox studied at Moody Bible Institute and Illinois Wesleyan University , graduating in 1931 . Following graduation , Fox became an itinerant Methodist preacher , holding posts in Downs , Illinois and Rye , New Hampshire before joining the Boston University School of Theology and becoming an ordained minister in 1934 . That same year , he took over the church in Waits River , Vermont , and his daughter , Mary Elizabeth , was born . He remained in Vermont , moving church twice and becoming the state chaplain and historian for the American Legion . Fox joined the army again in 1942 . His son enlisted in the Marine Corps on the same day . Fox was united with the other Four Chaplains for his voyage to Europe later that year following a position in the chaplain ' s school in Harvard , and departed with over 900 soldiers on the " Dorchester " in January 1943 . Death . In late 1942 , Fox was transferred to Camp Myles Standish in Taunton , Massachusetts and attended Chaplains School at Harvard University . There he met fellow chaplains Alexander D . Goode , 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 and fired 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 theirs 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 . Fox is honored with a feast day along with the other Four Chaplains on the liturgical of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America on February 3 .