Cona Adams | + Follow Poet |
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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

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