I found a treasure in a library
book sale in Florida last week. War
Letters; Extraordinary Correspondence From American Wars. Letters are
preserved from the Civil War through Bosnia. Of particular interest to me are
those from the two world wars.
Among the World War II letters
are two from Alexander Goode to his sweetheart/wife. Although his name wasn’t
familiar, I immediately recognized his situation. He was one of the Four
Chaplains.
In January, 1943, the Dorchester, a coastal liner converted to a troop ship
carried 902 men to Europe. The small convoy consisted of two other ships and three
Coast Guard cutters. When the
Dorchester was only 150 miles from its destination, they were discovered by a German wolf-pack.
At 12:55
a.m. February 3, 1943, a torpedo slammed into the vessel, destroying the
electrical system and creating panic.
Four
chaplains were aboard the ship: one priest, one rabbi, and two Protestant
ministers. In the pandemonium, Lieutenants George L. Fox, Alexander D. Goode, Clark V. Poling,
and John P. Washington calmed the men, distributed life jackets, and directed
them to the lifeboats. When they ran out of vests, the chaplains removed their
own and gave them to the soldiers.
Survivors
watching the ship go down saw the four chaplains link arms and brace themselves
on the slanting deck. They could be heard praying.
In 1933,
Alexander Goode recognized the danger for Jews in Germany. He wrote to his
sweetheart that Germany’s expulsion of Jews was their loss and America’s gain.
He believed there would be no difficulty in their entering America. “This
country will be glad to have them.”
I would
what he thought as the years passed and no country wanted to admit Jews.
Ten years
later, he wrote a last farewell to his now-wife. “Don’t worry—I’ll be coming
back much sooner than you think.”
It was the
last his wife ever heard from him.