No Greater Glory

On February 3, 1943, a German U-boat fired a torpedo into the side of the SS DORCHESTER off Greenland. Among those who lost their lives were the men now known as the Four Immortal Chaplains, four men of different faiths known for their work in bringing people together who gave up their own life jackets to save others. Their story is one that raises thoughts about the meaning of a good life. Tone carries a lot of weight in William Dufris's reading. He doesn't do individual voices but ably sets the appropriate mood with inflection, whether he's voicing a wife's memories of her late husband or an official report. The package bears the men's likenesses as seen at the Pentagon Chapel. J.A.S. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

April 12, 2004
The U.S. Army Transportation Service troopship Dorchester
was torpedoed in the North Atlantic, 100 miles south of Greenland, on the night of February 3, 1943. As a former luxury liner, the ship went down quickly. Of the 900 passengers and crew, 597 were military personnel, and four of those men were the ship's chaplains—Methodist senior chaplain George Lansing Fox, rabbi Alexander Goode, Dutch Reformed minister Clark V. Poling and John P. Washington, a Roman Catholic priest. Each chaplain distributed life vests as the ship went down and then gave up their own when supply ran out. (There were approximately 200 survivors.) Former Washington Post
correspondent Kurzman (Fatal Voyage
) follows the men from their enlistments to that fateful night, detailing their families and travails along the way. The result is the fullest reckoning yet for the men who have become known as "The Four Immortal Chaplains," who have previously been commemorated by the U.S. Postal Service, with a stamp issued in their honor. Agent, Elaine Markson Literary Agency.