Hundreds gathered at the Waupun Area Junior/Senior High School Monday afternoon as the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6709 in Waupun held a Four Chaplains Memorial Service. Event organizer George Baumann says the event was held in honor of four military chaplains who gave their lives in World War Two after giving their life vests to other soldiers after a torpedo struck a struck a ship in the icy seas off Greenland February 3, 1943. Baumann says according to historical accounts the chaplains led soldiers to boxes of life jackets on the ship and when the boxes were empty, the chaplains slipped off their own life jackets , put them on four soldiers and told them to jump. The Dorchester went down 20 minutes later. Six hundred 72 men were lost, but the chaplain’s efforts are credited with saving 230 lives. They were last seen on the slanting deck of the ship with their arms linked in prayer.
