Lt. James M. Rutan, Command Chaplain of U.S. Naval Weapons Station Yorktown, was the keynote speaker Saturday at a Four Chaplains service held at Gloucester DAV Chapter 58.

The service, which was the joint effort of American Legion Post 75, Disabled American Veterans Chapter 58, Marine Corps League Detachment 1317, and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8252, commemorated the sacrifices of four Army chaplains who died during World War II after a German submarine attacked the USAT Dorchester in icy waters between Newfoundland and Greenland.

According to Rutan’s remarks and an account of the event that was included in the program for the service, there was chaos aboard the Dorchester in the 20 minutes after it was torpedoed and before it sank. The captain ordered the men to abandon ship, but instead the four chaplains—Lt. George L. Fox, a Methodist minister; Lt. Alexander D. Goode, a Jewish rabbi; Lt. John P. Washington, a Roman Catholic priest; and Lt. Clark V. Poling, a Dutch ...