Truman Pleads for Religious Unity; Dedicates Chapel Built by Americans of All Faiths

A plea for religious unity in the United States was voiced by President Truman in dedicating a memorial chapel here yesterday to four World War II chaplains who gave their lives to save American soldiers in the sinking of the troopship Dorchester on February 3, 1943. One of the perished chaplains was Jewish. The President made a special trip from Washington to be present at the ceremony. He was accompanied by Secretary of Defense George C. Marshall and the Secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force.

Mr. Truman stressed the diversity of the denominations of the four chaplains. He said they symbolize the many people who sought refuge in this country in search of religious freedom and consequently symbolize also the unity of this country.

The chapel which the President dedicated, has three altars mounted on a turntable for Catholic, Protestant or Jewish services, as the occasion may require. It has a mural of the sinking of the troopship where the four chaplains–two of them Protestant ministers, one a Roman Catholic priest and one a rabbi–went to their deaths when the ship was torpedoed off Greenland and they gave their life belts to others because there were not enough to go around.

The four chaplains were: Rev. Clark Poling, of Schenectady, N.Y., the Rev. George L. Fox, of Sharon, Vt., both Protestant ministers; the Rev. John P. Washington, of Newark, N.J., a Catholic priest, and Rabbi Alexander D. Goode, of York, Pa. Nearly two years ago the Post Office Department issued a stamp commemorative of the deed of the chaplains.

FATHER OF PERISHED JEWISH CHAPLAIN READS PSALM IN HEBREW

The father of Rabbi Goods, whose name is Rabbi H.S. Goodkowitz, of Mountains-ville, Va., took part in the ceremony, reading in Hebrew the 96th Psalm. Relatives of the other three chaplains were also present at the ceremony in the chapel, for the construction and furnishing of which $300,000 has been subscribed by more than 10,000 Americans of all faiths.

“The four chaplains in whose memory this shrine was built were not required to give their lives as they did,” President Truman pointed out. “They gave their lives without being asked. When their ship was sinking, they handed out all the life preservers that were available and then took off their own and gave them away in order that four other men might be saved. Those four chaplains actually carried out the moral code which we are all supposed to live by. They obeyed the divine commandment that men should love one another. They really lived up to the moral standard that declares: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

“They were not afraid of death because they knew that the word of God is stranger than death. Their belief, their faith, in his word enabled them to conquer death. This is an old faith in our country. It is shared by all our churches and all our denominations. These four men represented the Protestant, the Catholic and the Jewish beliefs. Each of these beliefs teaches that obedience to God and love for one’s fellow man are the greatest and strongest things in the world.

“We must never forget that this country was founded by men who came to these shores to worship God as they pleased. Catholics, Jews and Protestants, all came here for this great purpose. They did not come here to do as they pleased–but to worship God as they pleased, and that is an important distinction. The unity of our country comes from this fact. The unity of our country is a unity under God.”