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By Don Keelan
If, after months of hearing and reading on social media, TV, and newspapers the bashing of one another by opposing political candidates, you feel the way I do, maybe it’s time to recall some folks who can help us harness inspiration of who we are.
Veterans Day reminded me of five individuals who can help us regain our faith in our fellow human beings.
George L. Fox, Alexander D. Goode, Clark V. Poling, and John P. Washington. The four had several things in common. They were clergy personnel: a Methodist minister, a Reformed Rabbi, a Catholic priest, and a Reformed Church of America minister, respectively.
Along with their clergy roles, they were 1st Lieutenants in the U.S. Army’s Chaplain Service in WWII. Because of their commitment, they became “Immortal,” as you will soon find out.
The four hailed from different parts of America and divergent backgrounds. Fox was from Lewistown, PA., while Goode grew up in Brooklyn, NY. Columbus, Ohio and Newark, NJ were the hometowns of Poling and Washington.
For those living in the early 1940s in Thetford, Gilman, and Union Village, Vermont, they would have known Rev. Fox as their Methodist minister.
What brought the four together occurred in early 1942 when they each desired to become chaplains in the U.S. Armed Services and met at the Army’s Chaplain School at Harvard University, according to Wikipedia and numerous books written about the four men.
Their immortality originated in New York City in late January 1942, when the four 1st Lieutenants boarded, along with 900 soldiers, the U.S.S. Dorchester, a former ocean liner converted into a troop ship. They were headed to Greenland to relieve the present garrison assigned to defend that part of Denmark from the Nazis.
On that fateful night of Feb. 3, 1943, well off the coast of Newfoundland, the Dorchester was torpedoed by a Nazi submarine. Amis the chaos of abandoning ship, there were insufficient life-jackets. While guiding the enlistment men, the four chaplains realized the shortage, and each gave up their life jackets, knowing they had no chance of surviving. It did not take long. Within minutes, the four chaplains and over 600 troops went down with the ship into the frigid waters of the North Atlantic.
That event took place over 80 years ago. More recently, there is the story of another inspiring military chaplain, Fr. Vincent Capodanno, who is one of ten children from an Italian immigrant family that resided in Staten Island, NY.
Similarly to the Four Chaplains, Fr. Capodanno was a 1st Lieutenant but with the U.S. Navy and attached to the Marine Corps 1st Division in Vietnam. In September 1967, he volunteered to be with the Marines, who became engaged in an attack from a large contingent of North Vietnam troops. Going from wounded to wounded Marine, the Maryknoll Missionary chaplain, himself seriously injured, continued to care for the fallen Marines until he was killed.
The 38-year-old priest was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously two years later. Little did Fr. Capodanno know that during the battle, not far from him, was another 1st Lieutenant and Yale graduate who would survive and later create the largest delivery company in the world: Fred Smith, founder of FedEx.
Hopefully, the five chaplains can inspire us in our fellow human beings after the bitter and nasty name-calling election season we endured.
The chaplains I have noted are among thousands who could be mentioned. They all have one thing in common, and if I might again note and paraphrase a statement attributed to Admiral William Halsey: “There are no great men or women; there are only great crises that ordinary men and women rise to meet.”
It might be worthwhile to stop in Gilman, Thetford, and Bennington (Vermont Veterans Home) and spend a moment at the memorials established for the four Chaplains. By doing so, you may realize how shallow political nastiness is when set against the background of those who gave their lives so others could live.
The author is a U.S. Marine (retired), CPA, and columnist living in Arlington, VT.
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Categories: Commentary
Thank you Mr. Keelan for this tribute to those without whom, things would have been so different. And thank you for your service.
It is always good to revisit accounts of faith. Charity and bravery such as the “Four Chaplains.”
An interesting note: Given the connection Rev. Fox had with the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, along with the interfaith dimension of their story, the Interfaith Chapel at the Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital was dedicated to the Four Chaplains.
I was ten when my mother took me out of school for one week for what turned out to be one of the most educational vacations of my young life. At the Smithsonian Institute, I was in awe of the life-like wax figure-like reenactment of the Four Chaplains sacrifices aboard the SS Dorchester. It left a deep impression which has lasted a lifetime. Unfortunately, there have only been two minor films about these brave saints, and they weren’t produced until after the turn of the 20th Century. We also visited JFK’s grave, which was less than six months old at the time.