The Toil of Tradition

Traditions are important to help us remember people and events large and small. This Sunday offers another tradition though perhaps not the one you first thought. I've written about it before. 

On February 3, 1943, almost seventy-five years ago, at the height of World War II, the SS Dorchester, a converted cargo vessel pressed into duty and refitted as a troop transport ship was torpedoed in the early morning hours as the convoy of which it was a part was sailing from Newfoundland, Canada to a port in Southern Greenland.

The ship with 904 troops and civilian crew aboard sank bow first in about twenty minutes. The severe list as it sank prevented the launch of some of her lifeboats and subsequent overcrowding of the remaining lifeboats caused some of those that were launched to capsize, spilling their unfortunate passengers into cold North Atlantic waters barely above freezing.

Because of the ship’s sudden sinking, no distress signals were sent delaying the start of any rescue attempts. When help did arrive the following day, many who had survived the sinking were floating in their life-jackets, dead from hypothermia. Only 230 men were rescued. The Dorchester sinking was the largest loss of life of any American convoy during World War II.

Among those who died onboard were four US army chaplains, who helped frightened soldiers board lifeboats, and gave up their own life-jackets when the supply ran out. The four, (Methodist minister, Reverend) George Fox, (Reform Rabbi) Alexander Goode, (Roman Catholic priest, Reverend) John Washington, and (Reformed Church in America minister, Reverend) Clark Poling, then joined arms, offered prayers for the living and the dead, and sang hymns as the ship sank.

Their deaths serve as a courageous example for the living, especially now when our nation faces challenges and uncertainties. They continue to this day to inspire.

The Peter Gallan American Legion Post 104, on Merchants Avenue in Taftville will conduct a Four Chaplains ceremony this Sunday afternoon at 2 honoring their selfless sacrifice and celebrating their lives.

Father Brian Converse, Pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church in Gales Ferry, Reverend Cathy Zall, Pastor of the First Congregational Church of New London, Rabbi Julius Rabinowitz, Rabbi of Beth Jacob Synagogue in Norwich, and Reverend Scott Schuett, Pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Lebanon, each representing the faith of one of the original chaplains, will deliver a benediction, representing the final moments aboard Dorchester. Rabbi Rabinowitz will be the keynote speaker.

The ceremony is both thoughtful and thought-provoking and you’ll come away with your own lessons learned of lives truly lived with grace under pressure in a spirit of caring and generosity for others that I think is sometimes lost in the tumult of our lives.

Please join us if you can this Sunday afternoon, if not in Taftville then wherever you are to remember their heroic sacrifice. All history is the sum of our collective remembrances and such memories remain our best hope for the future.

-bill kenny