2018 -- S 2625

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LC004555

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2018

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S E N A T E   R E S O L U T I O N

COMMEMORATING THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE "FOUR CHAPLAINS", FOUR

MEN OF GOD WHO SACRIFICED THEIR LIVES DURING WORLD WAR II SO THAT

OTHERS MIGHT LIVE

     Introduced By: Senators Raptakis, Felag, Cote, Lynch Prata, and Morgan

     Date Introduced: March 06, 2018

     Referred To: Recommended for Immediate Consideration

     WHEREAS, Just past midnight on February 3, 1943, the SS Dorchester, a United States

Army Troop ship laden with 900 troops, seamen and civilians, was passing through the brutally

cold waters of the North Atlantic, on its way to deliver support and materials to Allied bases in

Greenland. At 12:55 a.m., the SS Dorchester, located 100 miles from Greenland, was hit by a

torpedo fired from a German U-Boat. The massive explosion tore through the ship, causing an

immediate loss of life. The SS Dorchester began to list with water gushing into the lower decks of

the ship; and

     WHEREAS, Those that survived the blast were quickly in a state of panic and confusion.

Hundreds of survivors hurried towards the deck and then struggled to find the lifeboats as the ship

began to sink. Few of the men were wearing life vests, and knew that the frigid waters of the

Atlantic below them meant an almost certain death; and

     WHEREAS, In the midst of this chaos four chaplains, George Fox, a Methodist Minister,

Alexander Goode, a Jewish Rabbi, Clark Poling, a Dutch Reformed Minister, and John

Washington, a Roman Catholic Priest, all First Lieutenants, rushed forward to help their fellow

shipmates. They began distributing the limited number of available life jackets and when it

became clear that there were not enough available life jackets, they gave up their own so that

others might live. They remained on deck until the end, assisting others, and were four of the 670

people who perished; and

     WHEREAS, After the war, numerous memorials were created to honor these four

chaplains. A stained glass window in the Pentagon Chapel is dedicated to their memory. In 1960,

Congress passed a law authorizing the President to posthumously award a decoration for

extraordinary heroism to the four chaplains in honor of their actions. The Four Chaplains' Medal

was presented to their next of kin in 1961. They are also honored with inscriptions upon the Walls

of the Missing at an ABMC memorial, the place where the American government honors all

service members who were lost at sea. Finally, in the Battery on the southern tip of Manhattan

Island, stands the East Coast Memorial. On this site, overlooking New York Harbor, stand eight

large pylons with the names and service information of the 4,611 Americans, including the Four

Chaplains, who perished in the western waters of the Atlantic Ocean during World War II; now,

therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

hereby commemorates the 75th Anniversary of the "Four Chaplains", four men of God who

sacrificed their lives during World War II so that others might live; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Mr. Kasim J. Yarn, Director of the Rhode

Island Department of Veterans Affairs and Jane Deptula, Department of Rhode Island Marine

Corps League.

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