Yorktown’s Remembrance of the Four Chaplain Soldiers
On Feb. 3, 1943 four chaplains displayed great courage for their fellow soldiers on the troopship Dorchester, which was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine in the North Atlantic during World War II. Those clergy members were honored 69 years later on Sunday, Feb. 5 at the American Legion Hall in Yorktown Heights in a remembrance ceremony.
The ceremony, which was attended by over 125 people, recognized the sacrifice that four chaplains–Lt. George L. Fox, Methodist, Lt. Alexander D. Goode, Jewish, Lt. John P. Washington, Roman Catholic, and Lt. Clark V. Poling, Reformed—made by keeping the hopes and spirits of the soldiers alive during the attack. While there were some soldiers who did survive, the chaplains went down with the ship and died.
A chaplain is a member of the military but is unarmed. His job is to take care of all the military persons with whom he comes in contact with, according to Legion Post Commander Al Laughlin. “A chaplain is on call day and night in all kinds of weather, he moves from one danger spot to the other but has no way of protection from an attack by an enemy. They must be willing to go even further beyond any other man would go and must always be ready to go above and beyond,” he said.
During the ceremony Yorktown clergy members, Rev. Dan O’Brien of Calvary Bible Church, Msgr. Thomas Sandi of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Rabbi Robert Weiner of Temple Beth Am, and Mother Claire Woodley Aitchison of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, represented the memory of each chaplain. It was the third year that the local clergy participated in the annual event.
In addition 38 students from the Mildred Strang Middle School’s living history program took part in the ceremony. Dressed in Revolutionary War uniforms with muskets, the students who were joined by their teacher and historical re-enactor, Chris DiPasquale, opened the ceremony with a unique presentation of the National Anthem and Pledge of Allegiance.
“This was an event every American could be proud of, a ceremony celebrating the bravery, tolerance, cooperation, and faith of four American soldiers,” Legion member Patrick McDonough said.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.