Posted: | January 15, 2020 03:16 PM |
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From: | Representative Maria P. Donatucci and Rep. Carol Hill-Evans |
To: | All House members |
Subject: | Designating February 3, 2020 as “Four Chaplains Day” in Pennsylvania |
On February 3, 1943, an Army transport ship, the Dorchester, was torpedoed by a German U-boat while crossing the icy North Atlantic as part of a convoy. Of the more than 900 soldiers, sailors, and civilian workers aboard, only 230 were rescued. As the Dorchester sank, four Army chaplains, Reverend George Fox, a native of Lewistown, Pennsylvania, Rabbi Alexander Goode, Reverend Clark Poling, and Father John Washington, calmed the frightened men and led as many as they could to safety. When the ship ran out of life jackets, the chaplains gave away their own. The survivors in the water never forgot their last glimpse of the chaplains: linked arm-in-arm, praying and singing hymns as they went down with the ship. Rabbi Alexander Goode was originally from Brooklyn, New York, but spent the final years of his life in York, Pennsylvania. An elementary school in the York City School District bears his name to honor his valor and sacrifice. Please consider joining me as a sponsor of this important resolution honoring the bravery and sacrifice of the Four Chaplains by recognizing February 3, 2020, as “Four Chaplains Day” in Pennsylvania. |
Introduced as HR674