John P. Washington
John Patrick Washington (July 18,
1908 – February 3, 1943) was a Catholic priest and a lieutenant in the United
States Army. He was one of the Four Chaplains, who gave their lives to save
other soldiers during the sinking of the troop transport Dorchester during
World War II.
Born as one of seven children to
Irish immigrants Frank and Mary Washington, John was a religious boy from a
young age, rapidly becoming an altar boy at his local church in Newark, New
Jersey, where he grew up. A talented sportsman and intelligent and hard-working
child, he performed well at school and was accepted into Seton Hall Preparatory
School, then located in South Orange, New Jersey, where he completed high
school and took courses designed to prepare him for the priesthood. Following
his graduation he moved to the Immaculate Conception Seminary School of
Theology at Seton Hall University and took minor orders in 1933, being ordained
a priest in 1935. He served at several New Jersey parishes over the next six
years, before joining the Army upon hearing of the attack on Pearl Harbor in
December 1941. After brief periods in Indiana and Maryland, Washington was
dispatched to Harvard University, where he took a course preparing him for
deployment for Europe and became acquainted with the others of the Four
Chaplains for the first time. In January 1943 he joined them on board the
Dorchester for the trip to Europe via Greenland, and set off on the fatal
journey.
Death In late 1942,
Washington was transferred to Camp Myles Standish in Taunton, Massachusetts,
and attended Chaplains School at Harvard University. There he met fellow
chaplains George L. Fox, Alexander D. Goode and Clark V. Poling. In January
1943, the chaplains embarked on board the Dorchester, which was transporting
over 900 soldiers to the United Kingdom via Greenland. On February 2,
1943, the German submarine U-223 spotted the convoy on the move and closed with
the ships, firing a torpedo which struck the Dorchester shortly after midnight.
Hundreds of men packed the decks of the rapidly sinking ship and scrambled for
the lifeboats. Several of the lifeboats had been damaged and the four chaplains
began to organize frightened soldiers. They distributed life jackets from a
locker; when the supply of life jackets ran out, each of the chaplains gave
theirs to other soldiers. When the last lifeboats were away, the chaplains
prayed with those unable to escape the sinking ship. Twenty-seven minutes after
the torpedo struck, the Dorchester disappeared below the waves, with 672 men
still aboard. The last anyone saw of the four chaplains, they were standing on
the deck, arms linked and praying together.
Remembrance The four
chaplains were all awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Purple Heart
and received national acclaim for their courage and self-sacrifice. A chapel in
their honor was dedicated on February 3, 1951, by President Harry S. Truman at
Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia. The Four Chaplains' Medal was established
by act of Congress on July 14, 1960, and was presented posthumously to their
next of kin by Secretary of the Army Wilber M. Brucker at Fort Myer, Virginia,
on January 18, 1961.
John P. Washington is honored
with a Lesser Feast along with the other Four Chaplains (Alexander D. Goode,
George L. Fox and Clark V. Poling) on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal
Church in the United States of America on February 3.
The U.S. Army's Fort Benning
honored the Four Chaplains by naming a field in their honor outside the base's main
Protestant chapel.
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