February 3, 1943

NorwichDad

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Four military chaplains were on board the World War II military transport ship S.S. Dorchester when it was sunk by a German torpedo on February 3, 1943. As the ship was going down, the men named below gave their life jackets to young soldiers who had none and preached courage to the young men. Those four chaplains, men of different faiths but believing in the same God, their arms linked, standing on the deck together in prayer.

Father John Washington, born in Newark, New Jersey, who was Catholic; the Rev. Clark Poling, born in Columbus, Ohio, who was ordained in the Reformed Church in America; Rabbi Alexander Goode, born in Brooklyn, New York, who was Jewish; and the Rev. George Fox, born in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, who was Methodist.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/03/opinion/greene-four-chaplains/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
 
"Greater Love ...." There is a special place in Heaven for Chaplains.
 
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This plaque is atop Clark Summit in New Hampshire. The family of Chaplain Clark Poling once owned the property.
Last year, DH climbed to the top of this mountain where he took this picture.

The inscription is hard to read, but it says:

CLARK SUMMIT
By the Act of the New Hampshire legislature
January session 1951
Here Clark Poling loved to be.
Here he found himself.

CLARK VANDERSALL POLING
Columbus, Ohio August 7, 1910
North Atlantic February 3, 1943

Clark Poling was a boy of this town.
As he grew older,
he was a friend and leader of Deering boys.

CITATION FOR THE
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS
Chaplain (First Lieutenant) Clark Vandersall Poling,
Army of the United States.
For extraordinary heroism in connection with military
operations against the enemy of the United States
on the night of 3 February 1943, a loaded
troop transport was torpedoed, without warning,
by an enemy submarine in the North Atlantic and began
to sink rapidly. In the resulting confusion
and darkness some men found themselves without
life jackets and others became helpless through fear
and the dread of plunging into the freezing water.
Chaplain Poling heroically and calmly moved about
the deck encouraging the men and assisting them to
abandon ship. After the available supply of life
jackets was exhausted, he gave up his own.
He remained aboard ship and went down with it
offering words of encouragement and prayers to the last.

With Clark Poling on the Dorchester were three other
Chaplains who received this citation:
John P. Washington, Roman Catholic, Alexander D. Goode, Jewish,
and George L. Fox, Protestant.

In addition to the Distinguished Service Cross
and the Purple Heart,
each of the four Chaplains, by the Act of the 86th Congress
of the United States on July 14, 1960,
signed by the President, was awarded posthumously
an appropriate Gold Medal with certificate.

These four men of three faiths gave their life jackets
and their lives and with arms locked,
praying for the safety of their associates
went down together. In death they were not divided.


View attachment 51
 
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