Four Chaplains Day Service
Four Chaplains Day Service
When:
Sun. Feb 1, 2026, 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. CT
Where:
Unity Chapel
5000 West National Avenue
Milwaukee, WI
Cost:
Free
A program to mark Four Chaplains Day begins at 1 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 1, in the Milwaukee VA Medical Center's Unity Chapel.
The program honors the sacrifice of four U.S. Army chaplains — Clark V. Poling, Alexander D. Goode, John P. Washington and George L. Fox — who were aboard the S.S. Dorchester, along with 900 soldiers, when it was torpedoed on Feb. 3, 1943, off the coast of Greenland.
The chaplains organized distribution of life jackets as the ship began to quickly sink. When all the life jackets had been distributed, they took off their own life preservers, gave them to four young G.I.s and told them to jump.
The Dorchester sank in 25 minutes, and some 600 men were lost. But the chaplains helped save over 200 men, and the last anyone saw of them, they were standing on the slanting deck, their arms linked in prayer.
The service is sponsored by the American Legion, 1st, 4th and 5th Districts. The first such service in Milwaukee took place in 1963.
The program will include a memorial address by Chaplain Robert Allen, chief of Chaplain Service at the Milwaukee VA.
A brunch will be served after the service, hosted by the 4th and 5th District American Legion Auxiliary.
The service is open to the public.