Page 25 - Lake Front News: August 2021 Edition

Wreaths Across America Remembers Coast Guardsman Charles David Jr.
On Wednesday, February 3rd, 2021, Wreaths Across America honored the American heroes known as “The Four Chaplains” with a special Facebook live event (https://www.facebook.com/ events/170854841480684).
However, The Four Chaplains were not the only heroes that day.
On January 23, 1943,
the U.S.A.T. Dorchester
left New York harbor
bound for Greenland
carrying over 900 officers,
servicemen and civilian
workers. The ship was
a coastal passenger
steamship requisitioned
and operated by the War
Shipping Administration
(WSA) for wartime use as
a troop ship. The ship was
transiting the Labrador Sea
when it was torpedoed by a German U-boat (U- 233) on February 3, 1943. The ship sank and 675 people on board lost their lives. Amidst the chaos to save 230, lives four chaplains guided soldiers trapped below deck to escape hatches and gave
away their life jackets to save others on that fateful day. When the chaplains had done all they could, they linked arms to pray and sing hymns as the Dorchester slipped beneath the waves.
As part of the rescue response to the sinking of the Dorchester, African American Coast Guardsman Charles Walter David Jr. jumped into icy Greenland waters, from his rescue ship, to save two men from drowning and continued to help rescue a total of 93 survivors from life-boats. After his heroic acts, 54 days later Charles Walter David Jr. succumbed to pneumonia stemming
from those icy waters. Replica Dog tags of Guardsman Charles Walter David Jr. hang in remembrance on the Four Chaplains section of the Wreaths Across America tip land. Replica dog tags hang on the live balsam trees used to make memorial wreaths to honor the lives, duty and commitment of fallen soldiers and create a living memorial to inspire a new generation to make a
After the Dorchester slipped beneath the waves on 3 February 1943, the USCGC Escanaba and other Coast Guard vessels rescued dozens of survivors from the doomed Army troopship. (U.S. Coast Guard History Office)
positive impact.
Wreaths Across
America is the non-profit organization best known for placing veterans’ wreaths on the headstones of our nation’s fallen at Arlington National Cemetery. However, the organization, in total, places more than 1.7 million sponsored wreaths at 2557 participating locations nationwide and offers other programs throughout the
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