RUMFORD — Napoleon Ouellette Post 24, American Legion, will observe the 75th anniversary of the sacrifice of “The Four Chaplains” in a ceremony at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 4, at the post. It is open to the public with a light meal to follow.

Early on the morning of Feb. 3, 1943, the U.S. troop transport Dorchester was wallowing through icy seas off Greenland. Most of the 900 troop on board were asleep in their bunks. Suddenly a torpedo smashed into the Dorchester’s flank. Frantically pounding up the ladders, the troops milled in confusion on the decks.

In those dark moments of panic, the coolest men aboard were four U.S. Army Chaplains: 1st Lts. Clark V. Poling, Reformed Church of America; Alexander D. Goode, Jewish; John P. Washington, Catholic; and George L. Fox, Methodist. The four chaplains led the men to boxes of life jackets and passed them out to the soldiers with boat-drill precision.

When the boxes were empty, the four chaplains quietly slipped off their own life preservers, put them on four young GIs and told them to jump.

The Dorchester went down 25 minutes later in a rumble of steam. Some 600 men were lost, but the heroic chaplains had helped save more than 200. The last anyone saw of them, they were standing on the slanting deck, their arms linked in prayer to the one God they all served.

The monthly membership meeting for the Post, Auxiliary and SAL will follow at approximately 4 p.m.

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