The four chaplains were
lieutenants in the
United States Army: the Rev.
George L. Fox (
Methodist),
Rabbi Alexander D. Goode (
Jewish), the Rev.
Clark V. Poling (
Reformed Church in America) and
Fr. John P. Washington (
Roman Catholic). In late 1942, the chaplains were transferred to Camp Myles Standish in
Taunton, Massachusetts, and attended Chaplains School at
Harvard University. In January 1943, the chaplains embarked on board the SS
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 theirs to other soldiers. When the last lifeboats were away, the chaplains prayed with those unable to escape the sinking ship. Twenty-seven 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. As to official military decorations, each of the four chaplains was posthumously awarded the
Distinguished Service Cross and the
Purple Heart. ==Award creation==