During the early morning hours of February 3, 1943, the USAT Dorchester was part of a convoy of six ships heading for Greenland when an enemy U-boat attacked and fired a torpedo into the ship's midsection. As the Dorchester quickly began taking on water and the order was given to abandon ship, four Army chaplains—George L. Fox, Alexander D. Goode, Clark V. Poling, and John P. Washington—worked to pass out life vests until all the vests were gone. Without regard for their own safety, they gave up their own life vests so others might be saved. The four men of different faiths were last seen locked arm-in-arm on the ship's hull, praying and singing hymns, and they perished as the Dorchester slipped beneath the icy waters of the North Atlantic.
