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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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the ship; and

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

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

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

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Atlantic below them meant an almost certain death; and

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

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

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

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

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

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

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people who perished; and

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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therefore be it

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Corps League.

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