By Steve Bissonette

            Motorists along the highways and roads of the Northeast Kingdom are treated to many special pleasures. These include breathtaking views, idyllic Vermont towns, and historic points of interest.

On the Oregon Road in East Concord, Vermont, you will find a Methodist Church which was the Parish of the Reverend George Fox, one of the four Dorchester Chaplains. The others were Rabbi Alexander Goode, Father John Washington, and the Rev. Clark Poling. What these four men gave was more than their lives; it was an example of self-sacrifice which is truly relevant, even today.

            The Rev. Fox was a Pennsylvania native who joined the Army Ambulance Corps at the age of 17 during World War I. During that conflict he earned a Sliver Star, Purple Heart, and a French Croix de Guerre. When W.W. I was over he returned home and finished high school. He eventually became an itinerant Methodist minister. He then became a student pastor and eventually went to Illinois Wesleyan and then the Boston University School of Theology. After graduating he was assigned a pastorate in Union Village, Vermont, then he found himself in Gilman, Vermont.

            When W.W. II erupted the Rev. Fox heard the call of duty once again and joined the Army Chaplain Service. He reported to active duty in August of 1942 – the same day his oldest son enlisted in the Marine Corps. After attending Chaplains School at Harvard he was assigned to the USAT Dorchester. On a chilly February night in the Atlantic, a convoy of ships sailed toward an American base in Greenland. On board the Dorchester 902 souls placed their lives in the hands of Captain Hans Danielson. Capt. Danielson was deeply concerned about what lay ahead. Sonar had detected submarines earlier in the day and many ships had already been sunk in the vicinity. Tough only 150 miles from port, the captain was concerned enough to order all aboard to sleep fully dressed, including life jackets.

            At 12:55 a.m., on the morning of February 3, a German U-Boat fixed its sights on the Dorchester and fired a torpedo. The shot hit the ship below the waterline and sealed its fate. Many were killed by the blast, survivors who had disregarded the captains orders rushed topside to be met by the cold night air and certainly of death. In the midst of the chaos, survivors tell of the four chaplains tended to the injured and terrified men aboard.

            In an earlier interview, witness Private William B. Bednar recalls floating amongst dead bodies and oil slicks. “I could hear men crying, pleading, praying,” he told writer Victor Parachin, “I could also hear the chaplains preaching courage. Their voices were the only that that kept me going.”

            As all the men still alive reached the deck, the chaplains opened a locker and began distributing life jackets. When the storage locker was emptied the four chaplains made an heroic choice. Instead of boarding life boats and watching others drown, they removed their own life vests and gave them to four terrified young men.

            Survivors tell of seeing the four chaplains praying on the deck of the sinking ship, arms linked and bodies braced against the slant of the ship. They died that night, but their legacy will always remain. With this act these four men of different faiths showed the world that regardless of religion or race we are all one people. The four chaplains handed out their life jackets without asking what faith the sailors were. Surely the example of these Immortal Chaplains is one to be valued in today’s turbulent world, and surely the little sign next to the church in East Concord, Vermont has a story worth telling. The sign says the following:

George Lansing Fox

One of the 4 Dorchester Chaplains

Called from his Gilman parish to serve as a Chaplain in World War II, First Lieutenant Fox died when the Dorchester was torpedoed in the North Atlantic. Giving his life jacket to a soldier, he perished with three other chaplains in one of the most heroic acts of the war.