On Feb. 3, 1943, an enemy torpedo struck the Army transport ship Dorchester as it carried 902 officers and enlisted men, Navy armed guard, merchant seamen and civilian workers in the North Atlantic.

As the ship started to sink, four Army chaplains – Lt. George L. Fox (Methodist), Lt. Alexander D. Goode (Jewish), Lt. John P. Washington (Roman Catholic) and Lt. Clark V. Poling (Dutch Reformed) – offered their life jackets to four people in need.

They were among the 672 people on board that day who died. A total of 902 people were on the ship.

A descendant of Clark Poling – Scott Poling – will participate in The Four Chaplains Memorial Service on Saturday, hosted by the Romeoville American Legion Post 52. Scott Poling is the senior pastor at Harvest New Beginnings church in Oswego.

The service will be held at 10 a.m. at New Life Lutheran Church, 249 N. Bolingbrook Drive in Bolingbrook.

Art Arellano, Jr., vice commander of the post, hopes that the service will help educate people about the sacrifice that these chaplains made.

“I definitely want the younger kids to see what these four chaplains sacrificed their lives for,” Arellano said.

The post is among many American Legion posts nationwide that honor the four chaplains.