Speaker 1: Pushkin.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, Malcolm Glabel here. The primary instinct of every
Speaker 2: living thing on our planet is self preservation in moments
Speaker 2: of danger. Our own survival is wired into us so
Speaker 2: deeply it's nearly impossible for our brains to override it.
Speaker 2: To do that, to consciously give your life, you have
Speaker 2: to be set in your convictions. You'd have to believe
Speaker 2: against every instinct and synapse in your brain that what
Speaker 2: you're doing is right. We're going to end the season
Speaker 2: of Medal of Honor with the story of four men
Speaker 2: who did just that. There were four chaplains from different
Speaker 2: religious backgrounds who became unlikely friends. In their short time together,
Speaker 2: their collective faith galvanized and inspired the men around them.
Speaker 2: They differed in many of their beliefs, but aligned on
Speaker 2: one that to serve God, they would have to serve
Speaker 2: others over themselves. This is their story.
Speaker 1: It was just before one am on February third, nineteen
Speaker 1: forty three, ten foot waves were turning the icy waters
Speaker 1: of the North Atlantic. A ship named the Dorchester was
Speaker 1: carrying American soldiers across the ocean to fight in World
Speaker 1: War II. They were headed to Greenland, a strategic base
Speaker 1: for the Allies. They were only about one hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty miles from their destination. But now the ship was sinking.
Speaker 1: It was mayhem on the deck. Soldiers raced to the lifeboats.
Speaker 1: They scrambled for life preservers. Men pushed towards the railing
Speaker 1: as the giant ship listed to one side. The Dorchester
Speaker 1: was breaking apart around them. Some gi screamed and wept
Speaker 1: as they slid down ropes and dropped into the free waves.
Speaker 1: But four men stood calmly among the chaos. Each wore
Speaker 1: the uniform of an officer, but they weren't soldiers. There
Speaker 1: were four Army chaplains, each of a different faith. The
Speaker 1: soldiers knew them well, they loved them, and now they
Speaker 1: watched as the chaplains started to pray. The four chaplains
Speaker 1: were going down with the ship. I'm j R. Martinez
Speaker 1: and this is Medal of Honor Stories of Courage. The
Speaker 1: Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in the
Speaker 1: United States. It's awarded for gallantry and bravery and combat
Speaker 1: at the risk of life, above and beyond the call
Speaker 1: of duty. Each candidate must be approved all the way
Speaker 1: up the chain of command, from the supervisory officer in
Speaker 1: the Field to the White House. This show is about
Speaker 1: those heroes, what they did, what it meant, and what
Speaker 1: their stories tell us about the nature of courage and sacrifice.
Speaker 1: In this episode, we're going to meet the four Chaplains
Speaker 1: of the USS Dorchester. Two Protestant ministers, one Catholic priest,
Speaker 1: and one Jewish rabbi. They were men of peace who
Speaker 1: decided to serve in World War Two as a commitment
Speaker 1: to themselves, to the country, and to their God. They
Speaker 1: did everything in their power to help the more than
Speaker 1: nine hundred men traveling on the Dorchester. The four Chaplains
Speaker 1: didn't receive the Medal of Honor for their actions. Instead,
Speaker 1: they were awarded a special and unique decoration, the Congressional
Speaker 1: Medal of Valor. But I think they deserve a place
Speaker 1: in this podcast because they are just as heroic as
Speaker 1: to other people we've met this season. The four Chaplains
Speaker 1: had different beliefs, they worshiped in different ways, but each
Speaker 1: of them proved that selflessness is at the very heart
Speaker 1: of courage. On January twenty third, nineteen forty three, the
Speaker 1: USS Dorchester arrived in New York Harbor. It was a
Speaker 1: former passenger ship, sleek and elegant. It had once taken
Speaker 1: wealthy travelers from New York to Miami. In those days,
Speaker 1: it even had a casino. It sure wasn't luxurious anymore.
Speaker 1: This was wartime and every seaworthy boat had been refitted
Speaker 1: for military service. Those roulette wheels were long gone. Now
Speaker 1: GI's were going to pack in like sardines and get
Speaker 1: taken to fight. Most of the nine hundred and two
Speaker 1: people aboard were headed to southwestern Greenland. It had airfields
Speaker 1: that were key for battling the Nazis in Europe. The
Speaker 1: journey was going to be dangerous because those North Atlantic
Speaker 1: waters were swarming with Germany U some Maarines that moved
Speaker 1: in wolf packs. Allied ships traveled in convoys for safety,
Speaker 1: but they didn't always go fast enough, and the Dorchester
Speaker 1: wasn't known for its speed. A young soldier named Benjamin
Speaker 1: Epstein looked at it with a queasy filling.
Speaker 3: I know, I've heard it said that the ship was
Speaker 3: called the suicide ship. It was an extremely slow boat.
Speaker 1: Four officers stood by the gangplank welcoming soldiers on board.
Speaker 1: They all had pins on their lapels, three war crosses,
Speaker 1: and one wore Hebrew tablets under a Star of David.
Speaker 1: They were army chaplains there to support troops both on
Speaker 1: and off the battlefield. More than nine thousand ministers, priests
Speaker 1: and rabbi served during the war, giving spiritual support, rescuing
Speaker 1: the wounded and burying the dead. They were unarmed, but
Speaker 1: they were essential. The four chaplains of the Dorchester couldn't
Speaker 1: have been less alike. For one thing, they were all
Speaker 1: of different faiths. This was at a time when people
Speaker 1: from different religions didn't mix that much. James Mcatney was
Speaker 1: another young soldier on the Dorchester.
Speaker 4: I was raised as a Catholic in an Irish neighborhood,
Speaker 4: and I don't think I'd be very far away from
Speaker 4: the truth if I were to say that the pastor
Speaker 4: of our church wouldn't have been caught dead talking to
Speaker 4: a Protestant minister.
Speaker 1: Here were these four chaplains who came together from different backgrounds,
Speaker 1: but all shared a deep desire to serve. To James,
Speaker 1: they seemed to fit together like pieces of a puzzle.
Speaker 4: To see these men in shame uniform but of different
Speaker 4: faiths getting together and actually talking and smiling and laughing
Speaker 4: and joking each other was unheard of.
Speaker 1: The oldest of the group was George Fox and Methodist minister.
Speaker 1: George had a babyface and a mild manner, but he
Speaker 1: was a survivor. He'd been abused by his dad and
Speaker 1: had escaped by joining the army in World War One
Speaker 1: at the age of seventeen. He lied about his age
Speaker 1: to get in. He'd been a medic and was decorated
Speaker 1: with the Silver Star for his bravery, but the war
Speaker 1: left him with lingering injuries. Even so, when World War
Speaker 1: II began, he was determined to rejoin the army. By
Speaker 1: then he was a minister, so he would serve as
Speaker 1: a chaplain. He left a wife and daughter back in Vermont,
Speaker 1: and his teenage son had joined the Marines. Ed Dion,
Speaker 1: another soldier on the Dorchester, remembered him well.
Speaker 5: He was small in stature, but then by the same
Speaker 5: token he was big and things he did. The very
Speaker 5: fact that Reverend Vox had medaled from World War One, well,
Speaker 5: that gave you a little idea as to how he
Speaker 5: earned them was through taking care of somebody else.
Speaker 1: George was on the ship with one of his best
Speaker 1: f friends, Rabbi Alex Good. Alex was thirty one, a
Speaker 1: decade younger than George, and he served in the military too,
Speaker 1: in the National Guard. Alex had a wife and toddler
Speaker 1: waiting for him in Pennsylvania, but that hadn't stopped him
Speaker 1: from volunteering for the army. He was ready to fight
Speaker 1: for democracy and he wanted to go straight to the battlefields.
Speaker 1: His wife, Teresa knew he was set on serving no
Speaker 1: matter the cost.
Speaker 6: When I said goodbye to him, I had a feeling
Speaker 6: in my heart that he would not come back. It
Speaker 6: was a very difficult goodbye, and I looked at him
Speaker 6: through the windows of the train. I was crying, and
Speaker 6: he was crying, and I knew I'd never see him again.
Speaker 6: I just felt it in my heart. He was a
Speaker 6: selfless individual. He couldn't do enough for anyone, and a
Speaker 6: very kind man, but a strong man, had strong principles
Speaker 6: and he lived by them.
Speaker 1: George and Alex had met during chapter training at Harvard
Speaker 1: Divinity School, and as they waited to be sent overseas,
Speaker 1: they met two other chaplains. One was John Washington, a
Speaker 1: Roman Catholic priest. The other was Clark Polling, a minister
Speaker 1: of the Dutch Reformed Church. Clark was a pastor in Schenectady,
Speaker 1: New York, with a wife, a toddler, and a baby
Speaker 1: on the way. His dad was a famous evangelical preacher,
Speaker 1: and his brother Dan was a minister too. I guess
Speaker 1: it was the family business. Dan said that his brother
Speaker 1: Clark was always looking deeper.
Speaker 7: He was born an inquirer, a questioner. The things that
Speaker 7: he heard, he inquired about and searched to know their
Speaker 7: meaning and their purposes. He thought that he would be
Speaker 7: a lawyer, and he finally came to accept the fact
Speaker 7: that he was intended by Almighty going to be a
Speaker 7: minister clergyman.
Speaker 1: John Washington, on the other hand, knew he wanted to
Speaker 1: be a priest from the time he was in middle school.
Speaker 1: He grew up in a big and lively Irish Catholic
Speaker 1: family in Newark, New Jersey. When Pearl Harbor was attacked,
Speaker 1: he wanted to enlist, but he'd been hit in the
Speaker 1: eye with a bbie when he was a kid, so
Speaker 1: he wasn't sure he'd be able to. Somehow he managed
Speaker 1: to fake his way through the physical We've heard that
Speaker 1: story before. John was just one of the guys and hilarious.
Speaker 1: Here's the soldier ed Dion again.
Speaker 5: Father Washington probably told more stories than anybody I've ever heard.
Speaker 5: He kept ongoing. He had a good irish with two.
Speaker 1: The four chaplains hit it off immediately, and as soon
Speaker 1: as the journey began they got to work caring for
Speaker 1: the men on board. The chaplain shared a room, but
Speaker 1: they were barely in it. They held services for their
Speaker 1: different faiths. They organized the talent show, but James Mcatney
Speaker 1: remembers their comfort and support most of all.
Speaker 4: You'ven seen him at all hours, not just me lower,
Speaker 4: but wherever there was a gathering of any sort, one
Speaker 4: or more of than would be around, you know, filling
Speaker 4: in and talking and joking and participating. They had tremendous
Speaker 4: empathy with what most of us were going through, the
Speaker 4: uncertainty and the fear and all the other sentiments.
Speaker 1: About nine days after the ship set sail, their job
Speaker 1: got harder. The Dorchester was rocked by a terrible storm,
Speaker 1: the worst.
Speaker 8: Storm in fifty years in the North Atlantic.
Speaker 1: Ernie Heaton was a soldier on the Dorchester and nineteen
Speaker 1: at the time. He found the storm so terrifying that
Speaker 1: he clearly remembered it decades later.
Speaker 8: I'm telling you that ship was all over that ocean
Speaker 8: waves forty foot waves break clear over the bow of
Speaker 8: that ship, and it was cold, and I start building
Speaker 8: up on that ship.
Speaker 1: The outside of the ship was covered in a thick
Speaker 1: blanket of ice. Inside men were throwing up furniture flew.
Speaker 1: Three men were seriously injured, and two of the chaplains
Speaker 1: carried them to their bunks and bandaged them. The two
Speaker 1: others walked the ship, offering crackers and fruit to the men.
Speaker 1: And there was another bigger problem. The storm meant that
Speaker 1: the Dorchester was moving even slower, and sonar had picked
Speaker 1: up evidence that they were being followed by a pack
Speaker 1: of German submarines. That night, John Washington led Catholic Mass
Speaker 1: in the dining hall after all enemy ships meant the
Speaker 1: men were at risk of death. They would need all
Speaker 1: the prayers they could get, But he didn't limit his
Speaker 1: pastorship to Catholics. Here's ed Dion again.
Speaker 5: We all knew that torpedo was out there somewhere, and
Speaker 5: he came around. Didn't make any difference who they were.
Speaker 5: He said, all of you know the Lord's prayer. Poydon
Speaker 5: sang it, saying whatever he said, it'll help you. And
Speaker 5: that was the only time that I ever saw that
Speaker 5: he brought his religion in the rest of the time,
Speaker 5: he was just a man who wanted to take care
Speaker 5: of other men.
Speaker 1: By the late evening, the storm died down, but now
Speaker 1: that the seas had calmed, the threat from the U
Speaker 1: boats got worse. Ernie Heaton remembers an announcement coming over
Speaker 1: the loudspeaker.
Speaker 8: Captain come on and said, everybody is to stay fully dressed,
Speaker 8: absolutely fully dressed with life jackets. We've got soundings of
Speaker 8: subs in the area and we're going to do everything
Speaker 8: we can to keep them away from us.
Speaker 1: The message was clear. They were all at risk of
Speaker 1: being blown into the icy water. So not only were
Speaker 1: life preservers important, but everyone needed to wear all of
Speaker 1: their clothes, hats, gloves, and shoes as insulation against cold.
Speaker 1: The water was around thirty four degrees. You could only
Speaker 1: survive in it for twenty or thirty minutes, even less
Speaker 1: if you weren't fully dressed. But many of the men
Speaker 1: didn't listen. Their bunk rooms were stuffy and hot, and
Speaker 1: nobody wanted to stay in their heavy winter gear all night,
Speaker 1: and life fests weren't exactly comfortable. And remember most of
Speaker 1: these soldiers were eighteen nineteen twenty years old. I remember
Speaker 1: being nineteen years old and feeling like nothing is going
Speaker 1: to happen. They told themselves they only had to make
Speaker 1: it to daylight. Then they would be close enough to
Speaker 1: Greenland that Allied planes would escort them to safety. They
Speaker 1: just had to make it through the night. By midnight
Speaker 1: on February third, nineteen forty three, life on the USS
Speaker 1: Dorchester felt almost normal. Yes, they were being tailed by
Speaker 1: Nazi submarines, but safety was waiting in Greenland, only one
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty miles away. After the storm ended and
Speaker 1: the warnings went out over the loudspeakers, the guys just
Speaker 1: did what they usually did. Here's Ernie Heaton again.
Speaker 8: We were playing cards all evening. The ship had settled
Speaker 8: down some, it wasn't bouncing around like it was, and
Speaker 8: I had lost twenty bucks. So I said, hey, yes, enough.
Speaker 8: So I went to my own room and I sat
Speaker 8: down on my bunk and I said, darn it, I
Speaker 8: haven't even had my shoes off for five days. I'm
Speaker 8: going to at least take my shoes off. You know,
Speaker 8: if I just went over like this to take my
Speaker 8: shoes off, and the next thing you know, there was
Speaker 8: a big and that's when that torpedo hit.
Speaker 1: It was twelve fifty five am. Immediately the lights went out.
Speaker 1: It was pitch black. The steam pipes broke, the bunks
Speaker 1: went down like a house of cards. The torpedo had
Speaker 1: hit close to the engine room. Dozens of men died
Speaker 1: on impact. A flood of icy water roared into the
Speaker 1: lower compartments.
Speaker 8: When that torpedo hit, it penetrated the ship and then
Speaker 8: exploded inside the ship, and it split that chip open
Speaker 8: from blow the waterline clear to the top deck. It
Speaker 8: just started to break it apart. And the next thing,
Speaker 8: you know, in a very short period of time, it
Speaker 8: had already started the list.
Speaker 1: Ernie knew he had to get out of his bunk
Speaker 1: room and up to the deck. The torpedo had hit
Speaker 1: the refrigeration system, so toxic fumes hung in the air.
Speaker 8: As soon as I stepped out that door, there or
Speaker 8: whifts of amonia coming up out of that station. Now
Speaker 8: it's getting hard to breathe, but I had to go
Speaker 8: halfway the length of that ship to go onto the bow.
Speaker 1: There were three Coastguard cutters traveling in the convoy with
Speaker 1: the Dorchester, but without electricity, the Dorchester couldn't signal that
Speaker 1: they had been hit. The ship blew its whistle six
Speaker 1: times and then the steam ran out. Aside from a
Speaker 1: few flashlights, the only lights that work were little blinking
Speaker 1: ones on the men's life jackets.
Speaker 8: You couldn't say hand in front of your face, although
Speaker 8: every life jacket had a red light on it, and
Speaker 8: all you had to do was reach up and twist
Speaker 8: it and you had a red light that they could
Speaker 8: find you.
Speaker 1: In the dark hold of the ship, where the bunks were.
Speaker 1: The halls were blocked by soldiers fighting to get out.
Speaker 1: Up on the deck, it was chaos, clanging bells, emergency sirens,
Speaker 1: men sh The soldiers had assigned lifeboat stations. There should
Speaker 1: have been plenty for everyone, but because the ship was tilting,
Speaker 1: some of the lifeboats weren't usable. Others were frozen solid
Speaker 1: to the boat men piled into the few that did work.
Speaker 1: Soon they were massively overcrowded, capsizing as they hit the waves,
Speaker 1: So the men left on the ship were told to
Speaker 1: get into the water. Either they could jump from the
Speaker 1: deck or shimmy down ropes into the waves.
Speaker 8: They already told us that you couldn't live over a
Speaker 8: half hour in that water. If they tell you to
Speaker 8: cut a rope, let it slide into the ocean and
Speaker 8: then jump in after it.
Speaker 1: Everyone was panicking trying to find a lifeboat or life
Speaker 1: raft that still had space.
Speaker 8: As I'm trying to push my way through. This is
Speaker 8: where I saw the four chappas. They're telling everybody go
Speaker 8: to your station, Please, go to your station. But there
Speaker 8: was guy scream and I can't swim, and it was
Speaker 8: just you can't imagine what it was like.
Speaker 9: Was horrible.
Speaker 1: Yes, the four chaplains were on deck together. They were
Speaker 1: handing out life preservers and giving out instructions, trying to
Speaker 1: keep the men calm. It was an impossible task. Navy
Speaker 1: Gunner Roy Summers was on the deck.
Speaker 10: One of the boys had the chaplain almost by the
Speaker 10: neck and hanging on to him and it's just screaming
Speaker 10: and this chaplain has shaking him some and trying to
Speaker 10: get his attention, and tried to talk to him and
Speaker 10: tell him to get on the fall line. Keep a
Speaker 10: prayer on your lips and I'll be praying for you.
Speaker 1: Ernie noticed something else about the chaplains.
Speaker 8: They didn't have a red light on and I wonder
Speaker 8: why I didn't put that red light on, And when
Speaker 8: I got closer, they didn't have their life jackets on.
Speaker 1: There was a reason for this. Many men had gone
Speaker 1: to sleep without their life jackets, and after the attack
Speaker 1: they had left them down in the bunks. The Chaplains
Speaker 1: were giving out all the life preservers they can get
Speaker 1: their hands on. A private named Charles Mackley watched them.
Speaker 11: They were handed out life jackets. You know, they even
Speaker 11: gave up their own.
Speaker 1: In fact, the Chaplains gave up everything they could to
Speaker 1: the men on that ship. One man later said he
Speaker 1: had gotten to the deck and realized his gloves were
Speaker 1: back in his cabin, so Alex Good took off his
Speaker 1: own gloves and gave them to him. The four Chaplains
Speaker 1: weren't thinking about their own survival. As the freezing waters
Speaker 1: slashed over the deck, they called out words of encouragement.
Speaker 1: They calmly ordered terrified men to save themselves, but they
Speaker 1: didn't try to take a spot on a lifeboat or
Speaker 1: swim away.
Speaker 11: In fact, I told his Catholic chaplain, I said, finally
Speaker 11: get off the ship. The ship was going down. Still
Speaker 11: reallyased to do it, though, as I got off the
Speaker 11: ship when I went down on a rope that were joining
Speaker 11: has Afford of the wall together. It just stayed there
Speaker 11: and the water was starting to come into the main deck.
Speaker 11: They made no attempt to get off the ship at all.
Speaker 1: The men on the lifeboats and rafts had gotten as
Speaker 1: far from the sinking ship as they possibly could. If
Speaker 1: they stayed too close, they could have gotten sucked down
Speaker 1: with it. Benjamin Epstein, the guy who called the Dorchester
Speaker 1: a suicide ship, made it to a lifeboat from a
Speaker 1: spot on the water. He took a last look back.
Speaker 3: As I turned around, I saw a sight that will
Speaker 3: forever be with me. It was the Dorchester making its
Speaker 3: last lurch into the water, and it looked like a
Speaker 3: Christmas tree, because that little red light represented a soldier.
Speaker 3: They were soldiers hanging on to the rail of the
Speaker 3: ship who were too frightened. Not that I can blame them.
Speaker 3: Who would want to jump? What are you jumping into
Speaker 3: the cold water the waves? The situation was an impossible one.
Speaker 1: But those men hanging onto the rail of the ship
Speaker 1: weren't alone. George, Alex Clark and John had stayed behind
Speaker 1: to take care of them. From this spot on a
Speaker 1: life raft, A young soldier named James Urdley called the
Speaker 1: last glimpse of the four Chaplains there on the Dorchester
Speaker 1: as she sank.
Speaker 9: When she rolled, she rolled to starboard and all I
Speaker 9: could say was the keel up there and there showed
Speaker 9: the four Chapelains standing arm in arm on the top
Speaker 9: of the boat.
Speaker 12: And then the boat took a nose, diving right down.
Speaker 12: They worked with it. That's the last time we show them.
Speaker 1: Hundreds of red lights blinked in the water around the
Speaker 1: USS Dorchester. Roy Summers watched them from his life.
Speaker 10: Raft Men were all around us, and man with life
Speaker 10: jackets on with one cell lights drifting and bobbling in
Speaker 10: the water, and it kind of looked like a wheat
Speaker 10: field with a lot of light. Need bugs over the
Speaker 10: top of the wheat field, bobbing up and down with
Speaker 10: the light.
Speaker 1: He makes his sound so peaceful and reality. It was
Speaker 1: anything but the ship was surrounded by debris and the
Speaker 1: men got caught in it. It happened to Charles Tichia.
Speaker 13: As I was in the water, something grabbed my life
Speaker 13: jacket that had taken me down with it. I pulled
Speaker 13: and I pulled, and I pulled, and finally got free.
Speaker 13: Then I was trying to make my way up to
Speaker 13: the surface. I thought I'd never breathe there again. Finally
Speaker 13: there it was, and right in front of me was
Speaker 13: this life wren. Few fellows grabbed my back and to
Speaker 13: help bring me aboard. And I can hear the depth
Speaker 13: charges all around, being dropped by the coast cut cutters.
Speaker 13: And I can hear the people in the water saying, hell,
Speaker 13: shave me, shave me.
Speaker 1: Even with layers of clothing on, men in the water
Speaker 1: succumbed to hypothermia quickly. For those in the boats, things
Speaker 1: were barely better. Waves drenched the men with water, which
Speaker 1: then froze into sheets of ice. Ernie Heaton got lucky
Speaker 1: for a sort of crazy reason. When he jumped off
Speaker 1: of the boat, he was coated in oil. It soaked
Speaker 1: through his clothing and insulated him against the cold. As
Speaker 1: he was drifting, he saw a cluster of little red
Speaker 1: lights shining in the distance. He decided to swim towards it.
Speaker 8: I started swim as good as I could, and finally
Speaker 8: I got it was a lifeboat. It was a full
Speaker 8: I couldn't get in, so I told a god it
Speaker 8: was setting pushed to me. I said, let me stick
Speaker 8: my arm in there, and you lean against my arm,
Speaker 8: which he did. Then I just went almost limb.
Speaker 1: He floated there, one arm in the boat, the rest
Speaker 1: of his body in the icy water, waiting to be rescued.
Speaker 1: None of the Coastguard cutters in the Dorchester's convoy had
Speaker 1: been torpedoed, and yet they didn't come and help the
Speaker 1: men immediately. Why they were ordered not to. The German
Speaker 1: U boat was still out there somewhere. A naval doctrine
Speaker 1: said that when a ship was torpedoed, the other vessels
Speaker 1: in the convoy should seek and destroy the enemy submarine
Speaker 1: before rescuing survivors. So the men of the Dorchester waited
Speaker 1: and waited. The cutters didn't start to rescue survivors until
Speaker 1: fifty minutes after the explosion. By the time they arrived,
Speaker 1: they were greeted by hundreds of blinking red lights from
Speaker 1: life jackets, all attached to floating dead bodies. The rescue
Speaker 1: mission took hours, prowling through the darkness looking for each
Speaker 1: little lifeboat and raft. One Coastguard cutter was named the Escanaba.
Speaker 1: It would eventually pick up a total of one hundred
Speaker 1: and thirty two survivors. One of them was Ernie Heaton.
Speaker 1: He was still being held onto the lifeboat by his arm.
Speaker 1: As the Escanaba threw nets towards the men on the boat,
Speaker 1: he felt himself slipping away.
Speaker 8: This guy that was holding my arm. Men knew that
Speaker 8: I would couldn't do it, but I couldn't do anything.
Speaker 8: I was just about gone. And finally I could hear
Speaker 8: you holler, this guy's still alive. This guy's still alive.
Speaker 8: Comin get him, comin get him. He wouldn't leave that
Speaker 8: boat until they come and got me.
Speaker 1: Charles Chichi. I was saved by the Escanaba Iwo.
Speaker 13: They threw a lateral the side, but dianes were frozen.
Speaker 13: One of the men from the ship came down and
Speaker 13: helped us go aboard. Once I got on a deck,
Speaker 13: I kneeled down, I kissed the deck, smiling.
Speaker 1: Another Coastguard cutter was the Comanche. That boat wasn't supposed
Speaker 1: to be picking up survivors at all. They were meant
Speaker 1: to still be looking for the U boat, but the
Speaker 1: captain felt he had to help, so, even though they
Speaker 1: weren't trained or equipped for rescue, the Comanche's men started
Speaker 1: diving into the freezing waves. They saved ninety four from
Speaker 1: the Dorchester. The Coastguard boats reached Greenland at three am
Speaker 1: the morning of February fourth. Less than a third of
Speaker 1: the men aboard the Dorchester survived, but for those who lived,
Speaker 1: the four Chaplains lived on as well. In the years
Speaker 1: that followed the sinking of the USS Dorchester, the men
Speaker 1: who survived kept looking back on that night and on
Speaker 1: the actions of George Fox, Alex Good, Clark Pulling, and
Speaker 1: John Washington. Benjamin Epstein marveled at the sacrifices they made.
Speaker 3: Could I do what the Four Chaplains did, take their life,
Speaker 3: preserve off from give it to someone else? Absolutely not.
Speaker 3: I don't think I could do it. I didn't do it.
Speaker 3: That's why I say their bravery, their heroism is beyond
Speaker 3: beyond belief.
Speaker 1: In nineteen forty four, each of the four Chaplains received
Speaker 1: the Purple Heart and the Distinguished Service Cross, and in
Speaker 1: nineteen forty eight the US Postal Service issued a three
Speaker 1: cent stamp in their honor. It had the heading the
Speaker 1: Immortal Chaplains and an illustration of the four men. This
Speaker 1: was a huge deal. Back then people used stamps every day.
Speaker 1: Was no email and normally no stamp could be issued
Speaker 1: until the subject had been dead for ten years, but
Speaker 1: Congress waived that rule in nineteen sixty one. The four
Speaker 1: men were each awarded a specially designed Congressional Medal of Valor.
Speaker 1: Many believed they should have received the Medal of Honor,
Speaker 1: but ultimately they were ruled ineligible since they were not
Speaker 1: on the field of battle. There are literally dozens and
Speaker 1: dozens of memorials to the Four Chaplains. There are stained
Speaker 1: glass windows and statues, chapels, and monuments from West Virginia
Speaker 1: to South Korea. But their legacy is more than medals
Speaker 1: and memorials. Their story has become a touchstone for the
Speaker 1: inter faith movement, people who believe that religions should work together,
Speaker 1: that we should focus on our common hopes are common humanity.
Speaker 1: Remember James Mcatney, he saw the Four Chaplains as an inspiration.
Speaker 4: Here are these men who in my day and time
Speaker 4: would have been diametrically opposed in so many areas to
Speaker 4: what the other believed, and yet they did what they
Speaker 4: did and got together so well and everything else. And
Speaker 4: I think they embody that brotherhood that we all report
Speaker 4: to strive for and have and yet you're not likely
Speaker 4: for a while to attain. They epitomize what brotherhood and
Speaker 4: caring for each other really means.
Speaker 1: The four Chaplains are honored every year and hundreds of
Speaker 1: interfaith services around the country. The American Legion marks the
Speaker 1: anniversary of the sinking with non denominational services across the
Speaker 1: United States. They celebrate the Chaplain's brotherhood and they're shared
Speaker 1: hope for peace. The Chaplains came to symbolize a dedication
Speaker 1: to democracy too. Here's President Dwight Eisenhower speaking in nineteen
Speaker 1: fifty two human Rights.
Speaker 14: The rightful workp as we please to speak and to think,
Speaker 14: and to earn, and to say, we are specually inspired
Speaker 14: in our resolution to descend those rights by the memory
Speaker 14: of Burd Chaplin, who met death bravely, quietly, even tranquility
Speaker 14: in the thinking of adults. They gave their alives without
Speaker 14: some points, so that their fellow citizens could live.
Speaker 1: I like how he says tranquility, because that is part
Speaker 1: of their story that I think a lot about. They
Speaker 1: stayed calm and tranquil during all the chaos. It's pretty incredible.
Speaker 1: I think they were able to do that in part
Speaker 1: because they had each other. Their shared mission. Their friendship
Speaker 1: gave them strength. It allowed them to show kindness and
Speaker 1: generosity until the end when they can do nothing more
Speaker 1: to help the men of the Dorchester. And then they
Speaker 1: held hands and prayed in English and Latin and Hebrew
Speaker 1: as the cold water lapped at their feet. Medal of Honor.
Speaker 1: Stories of Courage is written by Meredith Rollins and produced
Speaker 1: by Meredith Rollins and Ryan Sweikert. Our editor is Lydia
Speaker 1: Jane Kott. Sound designed by Jake Gorski. Our executive producer
Speaker 1: is Constanze Gayadro, fact checking by Arthur Comforts, and original
Speaker 1: music by Eric Phillips. The rest of our team includes
Speaker 1: Malcolm Gladwell, Carl Cadele, Greta Cone, Christina Sullivan, Eric Sandler,
Speaker 1: Grace Ross, Morgan Rattner, Jordan McMillan, Kira Posey, Owen Miller,
Speaker 1: and Jake Flanagan. And extra special thanks to Polly Fox Britton,
Speaker 1: the wife of David Fox, who recorded many of the
Speaker 1: interviews you heard in this episode. That tape was provided
Speaker 1: by the World War Two Museum. Additional thanks to series
Speaker 1: creator Dan mcinnon, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society and
Speaker 1: our research intern Emmaline Jones. This is our last episode
Speaker 1: of this third season, but we want to keep hearing
Speaker 1: from you. Tell us what other stories you would like
Speaker 1: to listen to on the show. Email us at Medalal
Speaker 1: Honor at Pushkin dot Fm. Thank you for listening. I'm
Speaker 1: your host, JR. Martinez and
Speaker 6: S.