b'made it through blocked passageways.Others were overcomeis that these four Army chaplains sacrificed themselves for the by ammonia fumes.Those who did emerge into the freezingsoldiers and the God that they served.night faced tough choices.Several life boats could not be de- First Sergeant Warish freed himself after a ten-minute strug-ployed due to the Dorchesters dramatic list.Many others weregle.He dragged himself through the passageways and over so fouled by ice that they could not be freed before the shipthe side in time to see the Dorchester sink below the waves went under. just twenty-five minutes after being struck by the torpedo.Af-In the middle of the confusion on deck was Roy Summers, ater some confusion, the Coast Guard began rescue operations, Navy gunner stationed on the Dorchester.A few months earlier,saving230ofthenearly900aboardandlosingoneCoast he had survived the sinkingGuardsman in the process.oftheDorchesterssisterIn the aftermath of the di-ship, the Chatham, and hesaster, the story of the Four believed that he would sur- Chaplains garnered popular vive this attack.Resignednotice.Many thought that to abandoning ship, he ranthey should be awarded the afttowardthestern,butMedalofHonor.Instead, thought better of it when heon 19 December 1944, they realizedthatjumpingtherewereeachawardedthe wouldbringcertaindeathPurpleHeartandtheDis-fromthestillturningpro- tinguishedServiceCross. pellers,whichhadalreadyIn 1948, the U.S. Post Ser-breachedthesurfaceandviceissuedacommemo-claimed the lives of severalrative stamp in their honor, whohadalreadyjumped.and Congress designated 3 Turningaround,hewit- February as Four Chaplains nessed two of the chaplainsDay.Twelveyearslater, handingoutlifevestsandCongress created the Four assistingsoldiersastheyChaplainsMedal,which slid down ropes to the seawas presented to their sur-below. One hysterical soldier grabbed a chaplain as if to chokevivors by Secretary of the Army Wilber M. Brucker on 18 Janu-him.Summers wrestled the soldier away from the chaplain andary 1961 at Fort Myer, Virginia.watched the soldier run down the deck toward the rising waterToday,onecanfindmemorialstotheFourChaplainsall and probably to his death.Summers then climbed over theacross the nation.Several organizations exist to further their railing and went down a rope into the ocean. memory, including the Chapel of the Four Chaplains in Phila- Several memorials dedicated to the Four Chaplains can bedelphia and the Immortal Chaplains Foundation in Minnesota. found across the United States, including this one, designed byChapels, bridges, memorials, and plaques honoring the Four Constantino Nivola and dedicated in 1955, at National Memo- Chaplains are found in so many locations, including a stained rial Park in Falls Church, Virginia. (Army Historical Foundation) glass window in the Pentagon, that it is impossible to list them Elsewhere on the top deck, Father Washington gave absolu- all here.tion to soldiers as they went over the side.Private First ClassFirst Sergeant Warish was rescued.He recovered from his CharlesMacli,aformerprofessionalboxer,unsuccessfullyinjuries enough to continue serving the Army, although he suf-urged Washington to go over the side with the men.Instead,fered chronic pain for the rest of his life.He rose to the rank of Chaplain Washington remained aboard as Macli slid into thesergeant major before retiring in 1963.In 2002, he was injured cold water.Another soldier, Walter Miller, saw knots of men inin a car accident and for the remaining year of his life he could seemingly catatonic states bunched against the railings of theonly move with the help of a walker.He died in September listing ship.Too afraid to jump into the sea, they awaited the2003.inevitability of being swallowed by it.Over the din, he heard aU-233 escaped after firing the fatal torpedo.About a year lat-terror-filled plaintive voice repeating, I cant find my life jack- er, it was sunk by British destroyers with the loss of most of its et.Turning toward that voice, Miller clearly heard Chaplain Foxcrew.One survivor, Kurt Rosser, was interned in a Mississippi say, Heres one, soldier.Then Miller witnessed Fox removeprisoner of war camp, where he picked cotton and sandbagged his life jacket and put it on the soldier.At the same time, Navylevees against flooding.In 2000, the Immortal Chaplains Foun-Lieutenant John Mahoney cursed himself for leaving his glovesdation brought him and the U-233 first officer, Gerhard Buske, in his quarters.Chaplain Goode stopped him from returning forto Washington, DC.There they attended memorial ceremonies, the gloves, saying, Dont bother Mahoney.I have another pair.toured the Holocaust Museum, and visited with Theresa Goode You can have these.Goode then removed the gloves from hisKaplan, widow of Chaplain Goode, who reluctantly accepted hands and gave them to Mahoney.Mahoney later realized thatthe visitors expressions of respect for her husband and regret a man preparing to abandon ship probably would not carry afor her suffering.Four years later, Buske spoke at the founda-second pair of gloves. tions sixtieth-anniversary ceremony, saying, we ought to love Many of the survivors reported similar encounters with onewhen others hatewe can bring faith where doubt threatens; or more of the chaplains.They seemed to be everywhere onwe can awaken hope where despair exists; we can light up a the deck until the very end.Many survivors reported that thelight where darkness reigns; we can bring joy where sorrow four chaplains locked arms and prayed in unison as the shipdominates.Those words, as well as any, represent the lessons sank.Whether this part is accurate is unimportant, for the truthof the Four Chaplains.101'