For This Reason

"Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."* The four men were more than friends, they were brothers. Brothers of different beliefs, but of the same Father. Each took their Father's commands literally, even unto death. They embraced an icy, watery grave with the six hundred sixty-eight others who perished on February 2, 1943. In Operation Drumbeat, German U-Boats turned our eastern coast into a "Sea of Death," sinking U. S. Ships at the staggering rate of 100 per month, churning the North Atlantic into "a steaming human sea of fear." Fear rode heavy on the shoulders of men aboard the U.S.A.T. Dorchester, plunged into terror in that hateful dawn, packed "head to toe" in her bowels, torpedoed into eternity at 1:00 AM Too late, they understood orders, to don warm clothing and life jackets before hitting their bunks for sleep. Four Chaplains stood strong, in the face of mass panic, hearts bursting with divine love, speaking words of courage, hope, peace, and hands offering life to 230 men, giving their own life jackets and gloves. Engraved in survivors' memories, four Chaplains, arm in arm, braced against the rail, praying the Lord's prayer, and singing in the face of death. *John 15:13, RSV