Documentary on WWII “Four Chaplains” Includes Hope Alumnus

HOLLAND - A World War II documentary scheduled to show on the Hallmark Channel on Wednesday, Nov. 10, will include the story of a former Hope student.

"The Four Chaplains: Sacrifice at Sea" is a one-hour program scheduled to begin at 10 p.m. on Nov. 10. The four men of the title include Clark V. Poling, a member of the college's Class of 1933.

Poling was one of four military chaplains who sacrificed their lives when their troop ship was torpedoed during World War II. The four chaplains--one Dutch Reformed, one Jewish, one Roman Catholic and one Methodist--gave their lives to save others when their ship, the "Dorchester," was sunk by a German U-Boat on Feb. 3, 1943.

More than 900 American servicemen were on the "Dorchester" when the torpedo struck and exploded in the boiler room. Chaos ensued on deck in the aftermath of the nighttime attack. Many of the soldiers were without their lifejackets, and there wasn't enough space in the lifeboats and rafts for everyone.

The four Army chaplains, Poling, George L. Fox, Alexander D. Goode and John E. Washington, calmly organized the evacuation efforts in hope of saving as many men as possible. When it was clear that there were not enough accessible life jackets, the four chaplains gave their own to young soldiers, and then, arm-in-arm, prayed together as they went down with the sinking vessel.

One survivor later observed, "It was the finest thing I have seen, or hope to see, this side of heaven." Nearly 700 servicemen lost their lives with the chaplains.

Poling had enrolled at Hope in the fall of 1929, and attended the college for two years. He participated in the Pull tug-of-war, played football as a freshman, and was a member of the Knickerbocker Fraternity.

He completed his undergraduate education at Rutgers University in New Jersey in 1933, and earned his B.D. in 1936 at Yale University's Divinity School, and was ordained in the Reformed Church in America. Prior to the war, he first served the First Church of Christ in New London, Conn., as associate minister, and subsequently became pastor of the First Reformed Church in Schenectady, N.Y.

His name is on the plaque near the northeast entrance of Nykerk Hall that identifies the former Hope students who died in the service of their country during World War II.

The story of the chaplains is the subject of two books published within the past four years. The novel "Sea of Glory: Based on the True WWII Story of the Four Chaplains and the U.S.A.T. Dorchester" was written by Ken Wales and David Poling (Poling is a first cousin of Clark V. Poling) and published in September of 2001 by Broadman & Holman Publishers. The non-fiction "No Greater Glory: The Four Immortal Chaplains and the Sinking of the Dorchester in World War II" was written by Dan Kurzman and published in May by Random House Publishing Group.

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