b'from the Hebrew Union College in 1937.Virtually penniless astillery Battalion (Antiaircraft-Gun) at Camp Davis, North Caroli-a college student during the Great Depression, Alexander con- na, until he was ordered to Camp Myles Standish.templated quitting school and giving up on his dream to be- Clark V. Poling was born into a prominent family that had pro-come a rabbi, but he believed that it was Gods plan for him toduced six generations of ministers.His father was a well-known pursue a religious vocation.For much of his youth, he servedradio evangelist and religious newspaper editor.Born on 7 Au-in the National Guard to help make ends meet.Ingust 1910, Poling was educated in Massachusetts 1935, he and his childhood sweetheart, Theresaand New York.In high school, he played football Flax, daughter of a rabbi and niece of the singerand was student body president.There was never and motion picture star Al Jolson, were married.any doubt that he would become the seventh gen-His first assignment as a rabbi was in Marion, Indi- eration of his family to enter the ministry.ana.Later, he moved to the Beth Israel synagogueAfter studying at Hope College in Michigan and of York, Pennsylvania, where he excelled in ecu- Rutgers University in New Jersey, he entered Yale menicalism, crossing the divide between religions. Universitys School of Divinity, after which he was In January 1941, the Navy turned down RabbiordainedaministerintheReformedChurchof Goodes application to become a chaplain, but theAmerica.His initial posting was at the First Church Army Air Forces accepted him after Pearl Harbor.of Christ in New London, Connecticut, for a short After training at the Harvard Chaplain School, alongtime until he became pastor of the First Reformed with classmates Fox and Poling, he was assignedAlexander D. Goode Church in Schenectady, New York.toSeymourJohnsonFieldinGoldsboro,North Clark V. Poling was born into a family that had Carolina, where he served until October 1942.Inproduced six generations of ministers. An ordained November 1942, he was reassigned to Camp Mylesminister in the American Reformed Church, he was Standish. appointed as a chaplain on 10 June 1942. (U.S.George L. Fox, the oldest of the Four Chaplains,Army Chaplain Museum)served in World War I as a medic. After the war,WhenJapanattackedPearlHarbor,Reverend hewasordainedaMethodistministerandwasPoling volunteered to become a chaplain.Before appointed as an Army chaplain in July 1942. (U.S.departing for the service, his father, Dr. Daniel A. Army Chaplain Museum) Poling,remindedhimofthehighcasualtyrate George L. Fox was born on 15 March 1900 inof chaplains in World War I.The younger Poling Lewiston, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Altoona indownplayed the danger, confident that Gods will a Catholic family.His rough childhood under thewas to keep him safe while he served others.He tyranny of an abusive father shaped him.Deter- John P. Washington was appointed a U. S. Army Chaplain in 10 June mined to escape, he enlisted to serve in World War1942andreportedtothe131stQuartermaster I before finishing high school.He also abandonedTruck Regiment at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, on Catholicismduetohisinabilitytoreconcilethe25 June.Later he went on to Harvard and then to churchs teachings with the abuse he received atCamp Myles Standish.In November 1942, the four home and a desire to leave his past behind.Hischaplains were all together for the first time.gallant service in the Great War as a medic earnedThe Dorchester was as austere and dank as any himtheSilverStar,severalPurpleHearts,andof the tubs ferrying troops to and from the war zone French Croix de Guerre. across the North Atlantica suitable venue for one At the end of World War I, Fox held several jobsto suffer the dreaded anxiety of an uncertain future before entering Moody Bible Institute in Illinois inin war or to blissfully contemplate the safety, com-1923.Before graduation, he became an itinerantforts, and familial joy of home.Methodist minister.While holding a student pas- Clark V. Poling Originally commissioned the SS Dorchester on torate in Downs, Illinois, he entered Illinois Wesley- 20 March 1926, it was one of three identical ves-an University in Bloomington, graduating with hissels built by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Bachelors degree in 1929.While holding anotherDry Dock Company for the Merchants and Miners student pastorate in Rye, New Hampshire, Fox en- Transportation Company.As a cruise ship, it plied rolled in the Boston University School of Theology,a regular coastal route between Miami and Boston graduating with a Sacrae Theologiae Baccalaureuswith its crew of ninety and up to 314 passengers. (Bachelor of Sacred Theology) and was ordainedShe weighed in at 5,649 tons, was 368 feet long by aMethodistministeron10June1934.Heas- 52 feet wide, with a 19 foot draft.sumed the pastorate of a church in Waits River,With war looming, the U.S. government requi-soon moved on to Union Village, then Gillman, allsitioned the Dorchester and had the Atlantic, Gulf in Vermont.By this time, he was married and had aand West Indies Steamship Company in New York son; a daughter followed in 1936.While in Vermontconvert her into a troop transport.Stripped of its he joined the American Legion and would becomeGeorge L. Fox original cruise ship luxuries, the USAT Dorchester state chaplain and historian. was outfitted to carry 750 troops, with a comple-As with the other chaplains, Pearl Harbor drew him back toment of 130 crew and twenty-three Navy armed guards.the military.In July 1942, he was appointed as an Army chap- On 29 January 1943, the Dorchester departed St. Johns, lain and returned to active duty at the age of forty-two on 8Newfoundland, for its fifth north Atlantic voyage, hitting bad August, the same day that his son Wyatt entered the Marineweather almost as soon as it entered open water.In addition Corps.After training at Harvard, he joined the 411th Coast Ar- to the Dorchester, the freighters Biscaya and Lutz, escorted by 99'