It was just before 1 a.m. on Feb.
3, 1943 when the torpedo struck, beginning one of the most inspirational stories
of the Second World War.
Most of the 904 men aboard the
USAT Dorchester were in their bunks, although probably not asleep because of
the rough seas and fears of a submarine attack. The Dorchester, a luxury ocean
liner converted into a U.S. troop transport ship, was just off Greenland when
the torpedo exploded amidships, disabling the ship and causing it to list
heavily to starboard.
The torpedo was fired from U-223, a
German submarine prowling the North Atlantic for ships carrying enemy troops
and supplies.
Many men on the Dorchester died
immediately and many others were wounded. There was chaos as men fought to get
through passageways and up stairs onto decks. Four Army chaplains, a Rabbi, a
Catholic priest and two Protestant ministers, helped wounded, disoriented and
desperate men to get to decks where there was some chance of survival.
Those who reached the decks found
that some lifeboats could not be launched because of damage and heavy ice
coating their ropes. Men flung themselves into the freezing sea hoping to reach
one of the few lifeboats afloat, small life rafts or pieces of debris. The
ocean temperature was one degree Celsius.
On one deck, the four chaplains
opened a locker and distributed life jackets. The locker emptied quickly and
there were not enough life jackets for everyone. One chaplain removed his own
life jacket and gave it to the next man in line. The other three chaplains
immediately gave away theirs.
One survivor, John Ladd, said
later: “It was the finest thing I have ever seen or hope to see this side of
heaven.”
Fewer than 30 minutes after being
torpedoed, the Dorchester went down. Survivors reported seeing the four
chaplains on deck, arms linked, praying and singing hymns as the ship slipped
beneath the icy waves.
The four chaplains were: Rev. George L. Fox, Methodist; Rabbi Alexander D. Goode; Rev. John P. Washington, Catholic; and Rev. Clark V. Poling, Reformed Church in America.
They were four of 677 men who died
in the Dorchester sinking. Only 227 were rescued.
Clark Poling was the last of seven
unbroken generations of clergy in his family. He was one of my family’s distant
cousins.
The selfless action of the
chaplains was not the only story of courage from that night.
The Dorchester was travelling in a
small convoy that included the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Comanche, which set
about rescuing survivors. Nine Comanche crewmen and three officers volunteered
to jump overboard, tie ropes around floating survivors and help pull them from
the icy waters.
One volunteer was one of the
lowest ranking men on Comanche - Charles Walter David Jr., 26, an Afro-American
Mess Steward. As a black man, Charles David was not allowed to eat in the same
restaurants, or watch a movie in the same theatre, as white people.
He and the other Comanche
volunteers risked their lives to save 93 men from the Dorchester.
One of the men David saved was the
Comanche’s executive officer, another volunteer rescuer. He was succumbing to
hypothermia and could not get back onto the Comanche. Mess Steward David went
back into the water and dragged him up a cargo net to safety.
David, who had a wife and
three-year-old son, also suffered hypothermia working in the freezing wind and
water. He came down with pneumonia and died after the Comanche reached
Greenland.
There is an interesting epilogue to the Dorchester story. The Four
Chaplains Memorial Foundation in Philadelphia held a special anniversary
ceremony in 2000 and brought in two special guests from Germany. They were German
sailors who were aboard U-223 that tragic night.
The foundation’s view was that even former enemies must be included in
a world of peace and brotherhood.
The courage displayed on that night on the North Atlantic 73 years ago
remains a timeless example of brotherhood and service to others.
“Valor is a gift,” American
writer Carl Sandburg once said. “Those having it never know for sure whether
they have it till the test comes.”
No comments:
Post a Comment