[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 1136-1137]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING THE FOUR CHAPLAINS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Minnesota (Mrs. Bachmann) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate a sacred 
memory in our Nation's history. It was 67 years ago today when a 
terrible event occurred and a brilliant event occurred. It was 67 years 
ago, February 3, 1943. We now call this memory the Four Chaplains Day 
and honor this day in our Nation's memory because of the valor and 
because of the strength that was exhibited by four members of our armed 
services, four chaplains.
  It was the U.S.A.T. Dorchester. The ship was a coastal liner 
converted to a U.S. Army troop transport for World War II, and it was 
with more than 900 men on board. It was a freezing night when the 
Dorchester, one of three ships in a convoy, was torpedoed. It was 
freezing, and it was about 1:00 in the morning when a terrifying shot 
was fired by a Nazi submarine 100 miles off the frigid coast of 
Greenland, and the ship quickly began to sink in the cold, cold waters. 
Many Americans were killed by the explosion. Others were trapped below 
deck.
  As everyone started to panic, the four chaplains on board remained 
calm. They quickly passed out life vests to the young troops on board. 
They helped the wounded. They prayed with the troops that were on 
board. But then, tragically, when all the life vests had been 
distributed, there were more men than life vests, and the four 
chaplains, without skipping a beat, removed their own life vests that 
they had on their bodies and they handed them to the young troops who 
had none.

[[Page 1137]]

  And as the ship went down, the four chaplains linked arms. And 
witnesses said they saw the chaplains, as young soldiers, fighting 
against the cold, swimming in the water. They saw the four chaplains 
with linked arms who embraced each other in a circle in the waters. 
They prayed for the troops who lost their lives and for those who would 
survive, and they prayed until the chaplains were no more.
  The four chaplains were a Catholic, two Protestants, and a Jewish 
rabbi. Their names were Father John Washington, Catholic; Reverend 
Clark Poling, Dutch Reformed; Rabbi Alexander Goode, Jewish; Reverend 
George Fox, a Methodist. These four chaplains gave more than their 
spiritual guidance to the troops. They gave their lives on February 3, 
1943.
  It was a decade later that President Dwight Eisenhower remarked, he 
said, and I quote: And we remember that only a decade ago aboard the 
transport Dorchester, four chaplains of four faiths, together, 
willingly sacrificed their lives so that four other Americans might 
live. In the three centuries that separate the Pilgrims of the 
Mayflower from the chaplains of the Dorchester, America's freedom, her 
courage, her strength, and her progress have had their foundation in 
faith.
  Eisenhower concluded: Today, as then, there is need for positive acts 
of renewed recognition that faith is our surest strength, our greatest 
resource. And in 1960, Mr. Speaker, Congress created a special 
Congressional Medal of Valor, never to be repeated again, and gave it 
to the next of kin of the immortal four chaplains. The Distinguished 
Service Cross and the Purple Heart were awarded posthumously in 1944.
  May the greatest example of this greatest love fulfilling scripture 
that says, greater love hath no man than this, but that he lay down his 
life for his friend, may this Chamber, Mr. Speaker, this Congress, and 
the American people never forget the sacrifice of the four great 
chaplains. And may God forever bless and extend to them his peace for 
their memory.

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