Guest Column: 4 Chaplains military service remembered

What are the challenges of a chaplain for God’s people?

Well, for the military, though specific denominations are recognized, the services performed cross denominational lines and is remembered in the legacy started before our nation was founded. Gen. George Washington requested chaplains be added to the Continental Army to meet the soldiers’ religious and spiritual needs, which continues today.

According to the American Legion magazine and the history books, Feb. 3, 1943, is a day in which we remember the story of the “4 Chaplains” who gave their lives as the ship they were on, the U.S.A.T. Dorchester, was sunk by a Nazi submarine in the cold Atlantic.

These four chaplains from different church denominations, brought hope in the despair and pandemonium as the ship sank. Witnesses remember hearing the prayers of these chaplains for the dying and the ones who would survive.

When no lifejackets were left for them to hand out they handed out their own. As the ship went down, survivors in nearby rafts said they saw these chaplains — with linked arms and braced as the ship listed — offering prayers.

672 died that night, leaving 230 survivors with the memories of that tragic night. Yet the valor displayed, that crossed the lines of denominationalism, will never be forgotten.

Lt. George L. Fox, Methodist; Lt. Alexander D. Goode, Jewish; Lt. John P. Washington, Roman Catholic; and Lt. Clark Poling, Dutch Reformed; will be the enduring example of extraordinary

unity in faith, courage and selflessness for generations to come, lest they be forgotten and their story untold.

That night was a demonstration of the unity God wants us to have toward one another. Mark 9:35 says, Then He (Jesus) sat down, called the 12, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” Then He took a child and set him in the midst of them. And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, “Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me,”

These Army chaplains remembered the service their faith declared and demonstrated the peace that only their God could provide.

Their next of kin received the Distinguished Service Cross and Purple Heart posthumously for them. Also a one-time only posthumous Special Medal for Heroism was authorized by Congress and awarded by the President Eisenhower on Jan. 18, 1961. A special medal issued only to them that was equal to the Medal of Honor.

In these days of uncertainty may we always know, as these chaplains did, that this nation and its freedoms are a gift from our Forefathers and those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our United States of America. Let us serve one another in and by the examples given to us, through our faith that our Almighty God gives those who believe. Freedom is never free.

May we remember and give thanks.