[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 37 (Friday, March 7, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S3367]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           TRIBUTE TO THE ``FOUR CHAPLAINS'' OF WORLD WAR II

 Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I pay tribute to the heroic 
``Four Chaplains'' of World War II. In February, the Jewish War 
Veterans of Monmouth County and the Marlboro Jewish Center hosted the 
Monmouth County Interfaith Memorial Commemoration. These organizations 
honored four chaplains who bravely gave their life during World War II.
  On February 3, 1943 the U.S. Troopship S.S. Dorchester was in the 
Atlantic Ocean when it was torpedoed by a German U-boat submarine 150 
miles from Greenland. On board the ship were four chaplains. Protestant 
Ministers George L. Fox and Clark V. Poling, Roman Catholic Priest John 
P. Washington and Rabbi Alexander D. Goode. All went down with the 
Dorchester.
  Two hundred and twenty-nine of the 902 Army GIs on board were 
rescued. Indications are that not as many would have made it safely to 
the rescue ships if not for the bravery of these four men. They helped 
soldiers to the rescue ships and when life vests ran out they gave up 
theirs so four soldiers could live. According to some eyewitnesses, the 
four men were last seen with their arms linked and their heads bowed in 
prayer.
  I ask my colleagues to join me and the Jewish War Veterans of New 
Jersey in paying tribute to these four brave souls who died with 
dignity and gave their lives so others could live.
  (At the request of Mr. Daschle, the following statement was ordered 
to be printed in the Record.)

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