George L. Fox

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Four Chaplains

For other people named George L. Fox, see George Fox (disambiguation).

George L. Fox (15 March 1900 - 3 February 1943) was one of the Four Chaplains who gave their lives when the troopship USAT Dorchester was hit by a torpedo and sank on February 3, 1943 during the battle of the Atlantic during World War Two.

[edit] Life

George L. Fox was born in Lewistown, Pennsylvania in 1900, one of five children. At 17 he ran away to join the army and served on the Western Front during the First World War as a medical orderly, receiving the Purple Heart, the Silver Star Medal and the Croix de Guerre for his meritous service. Following the war, Fox completed high school and briefly worked for a Trust Company before studying at Illinois Wesleyan University, graduating in 1931. Fox married in 1923 and his son, Wyatt Ray was born a year later. Following graduation, Fox became an itinerant Methodist preacher, holding posts in Downs, Illinois and Rye, New Hampshire before joining the Boston University School of Theology and becoming an ordained minister in 1934.

That same year, he took over the church in Waits, Vermont, and his daughter, Mary Elizabeth, was born. He remained in Vermont, moving church twice and becoming the state chaplain and historian for the American Legion. Following the outbreak of war, Fox joined the army again in 1942. His son enlisted in the Marine Corps on the same day. Fox was united with the other Four Chaplains for his voyage to Europe later that year following a position in the chaplain's school in Harvard, and departed with over 900 soldiers on the Dorchester in January 1943.

[edit] Death

In the early morning of the 3 February, the Dorchester was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-223, plunging hundreds on men into the sea. Many of the passengers panicked, but were calmed by the influence of the four chaplains aboard, who loudly prayed and organised survivors into life rafts and gave up their own life jackets to men who had lost theirs. As the ship slipped below the waves the four chaplains were seen linking arms on the deck, offering up prayers until the last moment. All four drowned and were not recovered from the sea due to the dangerous situation the rescue ships were in.

The four men were all posthumously awarded Purple Hearts and Distinguished Service Crosses, and a number of memorials were raised to their memory, including a chapel now situated at the Philadelphia Naval Yard. In 1961, a new medal was instituted specifically for this case, with the introduction of the Chaplain's Medal for Heroism, which to date (2006) has only been issued to the four chaplains killed in this incident.