American Essence

Lest We Forget: The Four Chaplains and the Sinking of the Dorchester

When the Dorchester was torpedoed in World War II, four men from different faiths became a symbol of courage and unity.
Lest We Forget: The Four Chaplains and the Sinking of the Dorchester
The four chaplains who died in the sinking of the Dorchester were immortalized in a 3-cent postage stamp in 1948. Public Domain
Jeff Minick
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Just before 1 a.m. on the morning of Feb. 3, 1943, a torpedo launched by a German submarine, a U-223, slammed into the American troopship Dorchester. The explosion ripped an enormous hole in the vessel, immediately killing and wounding many of the men.

Aboard the Dorchester were 902 soldiers, civilians, and crew. Within minutes, the doomed ship had listed 30 degrees to starboard, throwing confused and panicked men from their feet as they tried to escape their berths and reach the upper deck. Those who were fortunate enough to gain the open air found more chaos and horror. Ice had frozen some of the release mechanisms for the lifeboats, men were shouting and racing about looking for escape, and the frigid waters of the North Atlantic meant death to anyone leaping from the decks.

Jeff Minick
Jeff Minick
Author
Jeff Minick has four children and a growing platoon of grandchildren. For 20 years, he taught history, literature, and Latin to seminars of homeschooling students in Asheville, N.C. He is the author of two novels, “Amanda Bell” and “Dust on Their Wings,” and two works of nonfiction, “Learning as I Go” and “Movies Make the Man.” Today, he lives and writes in Front Royal, Va.