Local chaplain receives
Legion of Honor award

The Chapel of the Four Chaplains, an interfaith memorial chapel, recently honored Daniel M. Savino of Freehold, past chaplain of the Cpl. Philip A. Rey-nolds Marine Corps League Detach-ment. Savino received the chapel’s Legion of Honor award for his duty as the detachment’s chaplain.

The Chapel of the Four Chaplains was dedicated in 1951 by President Harry S. Truman in memory of the four chaplains who gave their lives on Feb. 2, 1943. The chaplains were aboard the USS Dorchester, which was carrying 902 servicemen, merchant seamen and civilian workers to a base in Greenland.

The four chaplains were Lt. George L. Fox, Methodist minister; Lt. John P. Washington, Roman Catholic priest; Lt. Alexander D. Goode, Jewish rabbi; and Lt. Clark V. Poling, Reformed minister. After the ship was torpedoed by a German submarine, the chaplains went about the ship calming the frightened, tending to the wounded and guiding the disoriented to safety. When there were not enough life jackets for all the passengers, the chaplains gave up theirs. The four men were last seen on the deck of the Dorchester, arms linked and praying for the safety of all the passengers of the ship.

On Dec. 19, 1944, the four chaplains were posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Purple Heart. In February 1951, the Chapel of the Four Chaplains was dedicated in Philadelphia with President Harry Truman in attendance. On Jan. 18, 1961, a Special Medal of Heroism was posthumously awarded by President John F. Kennedy.