The Four Chaplains

The four chaplains stamp (Scott 956) was issued May 28, 1948. The story behind the stamp is inspirational.

On February 3, 1943, the USS Dorchester was pushing through the treacherous waters of the North Atlantic. With 905 American servicemen aboard, the Dorchester left its convoy a few hours short of its destination. A German submarine, stalking the ship undetected, took this opportunity to fire a torpedo straight toward the ship's stern. The torpedo struck amidships and exploded in the boiler room. Many on board died instantly, and some were trapped below deck. Others, jolted from their bunks half asleep, clambered to reach the decks of the stricken vessel. Taking on water rapidly, the ship began listing to starboard. Because security reasons prevented use of distress flares, escort vessels, still close enough to assist, pushed on into the darkness, unaware that the Dorchester was sinking. Overcrowded lifeboats capsized; rafts drifted away before anyone could reach them.

On deck, amid confusion and terror, Army chaplains George L. Fox, Alexander D. Goode, Clark V. Poling and John P. Washington moved about calming frightened men, directing bewildered soldiers to lifeboats, and distributing life jackets with calm precision. Soon, the supply of jackets was exhausted, yet four young soldiers, afraid and without life vests, stood waiting. Quickly the chaplains stripped off their own and forced them upon the young soldiers.

The four men of God (one Catholic, one Jewish and two Protestant) had given away their only means of saving themselves in order to save others. Men rowing away from the sinking ship in lifeboats saw the chaplains clinging to each other on the slanting deck, arms linked together and heads bowed as they prayed to the one God whom each of them loved and served. The Dorchester sank beneath the icy waters of the North Atlantic, pulling with it the four chaplains and 675 servicemen.

The Smithsonian has an interesting history of how it became a stamp.

First were letters requesting the stamp




Letter from Rabbi Bengis


Reply to Rabbi Bengis


Letter from Mr. Longnecker


Reply to Mr. Longnecker

Finally the approval for a stamp



Announcement


Next are the essays



Neither design was approved

Preparations for the first day ceremony



War Department memo for the first day ceremony

New pictures are needed to modify the original designs


Post Office Department request for picture


Acknowledgement of pictures received from widow of Clark Poling

Notification of the families


Letter to widow of Alexander Goode

Promotional pictures



And finally the stamp

An excellent story. Here's a link with biographies of the Four Chaplains:

http://www.fourchaplains.org/story.html

Outstanding read wt1 as always! I just came across this issue yesterday in my collection and was curious about it and then appropriately enough this thread appeared! Thank you. Hero's in my book for certain!