Will Four Who Died Together No Longer Be Remembered Together?

Covering Delaware County (Pa.) government for the Philadelphia Bulletin’s last five years was a beautiful assignment.
Delaware County had more than enough political favoritism and nepotism and corruption to satisfy any reporter. And getting bylines and prominent display was as easy as finding a Philadelphia pretzel.
I lived in Media, could walk to the Bulletin office, and could throw a rock to the “court house” where the government was headquartered.
Of course there always has to be a downside. One Sunday a month, some of us working in the suburbs were called downtown to the Bulletin building where we tried to avoid a city editor who could send us anywhere, anytime.
Thus it was, sometime in the late ‘70s, that I was sent to cover an awards dinner of the Chapel of the Four Chaplains.
I knew the story line of the four chaplains, but little else.
The story: On Feb. 3, 1943, a German submarine sank the U.S. transport ship Dorchester in the North Atlantic, en route from New York to Greenland.
Six hundred and seventy-two of the 902 aboard perished
In the ship’s final moments, four chaplains — two Protestants, one Catholic, and one Jewish — gave up their lifejackets to soldiers and sailors.
They went down together, praying.
The story inspired this nation.
After the war, the Rev. Daniel A. Poling, pastor of Grace Baptist Church at Temple University and father of one of the four chaplains, established an interfaith chapel. The son, Clark V. Poling, was a 1933 graduate of Rutgers University.
At its dedication Feb. 3, 1951, President Harry S Truman said the shrine would “stand through long generations to teach Americans that as men can die heroically as brothers, so should they live together in mutual faith and good will.”
Make that one generation.
Philadelphia Inquirer reporter David O’Reilly wrote in that paper Sunday that, after several moves, lack of funds, dwindling interest, and some petty intrigues, the chapel at the Navy Yard closed. It does not sound like it will reopen — anywhere.
The chaplains had been honored by the Purple Heart, the Distinguished Service Cross, special Congressional Medal of Valor, a postage stamp and a “national day of recognition.”
But as of last weekend, the chapel does not exist.
The Cape May County Library has at least two volumes on the Four Chaplains: “No Greater Glory” by Dan Kurzman and the novel “Sea of Glory” by Ken Wales and David Poling. Either could be a more worthwhile experience for your child than a videogame.