The Four Chaplains Monument - Ann Arbor, MI - Smithsonian Art Inventory Sculptures on Waymarking.com

The Four Chaplains Monument was dedicated on Memorial Day 1954 in Arborcrest Cemetery in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is large concave marble sculpture on a brick base. It depicts a scene where the subjects were aboard a sinking ship. The upper left corner of the face depicts the four branches of the U.S. military. The upper right section has become obscured by a bush that has grown high enough to block the view.

The sculpture was carved by Bernhard Zuckermann based on a model by C. W. Angell. The men depicted in the sculpture, Washington, Goode, Clark Poling and Fox, Catholic, Jewish and (two) Protestant chaplains respectively, were aboard the troop transport ship the "Dorchester" when it was torpedoed and sunk on Feb. 3, 1943. They aided the troops in abandoning the ship and gave away their own life jackets. They were among the 678 who went down with the ship. -From Smithsonian Art Inventories Catalog

From Wikipedia - Four Chaplains -The Four Chaplains, also referred to as the "Immortal Chaplains" or the "Dorchester Chaplains", were four World War II chaplains who died rescuing civilian and military personnel as the American troop ship SS Dorchester sank on February 3, 1943, in what has been referred to as the second-worst sea disaster of WWII. The Dorchester was a civilian liner converted for military service in World War II as a War Shipping Administration troop transport. She was able to carry slightly more than 900 military passengers and crew. The ship left New York on January 23, 1943, en route to Greenland, carrying approximately 900 others, as part of a convoy of three ships escorted by Coast Guard Cutters Tampa, Escanaba, and Comanche. During the early morning hours of February 3 the vessel was torpedoed by the German submarine U-223 off Newfoundland in the North Atlantic. The chaplains helped the other soldiers board lifeboats and gave up their own life jackets when the supply ran out. The chaplains joined arms, said prayers, and sang hymns as they went down with the ship. The impact of the chaplains story was deep, with many memorials and coverage in the media. Each of the four chaplains was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Purple Heart.

TITLE: The Four Chaplains ARTIST(S): Bernhard Zuckermann based on a model by C. W. Angell. DATE: Dedicated Memorial Day 1954 MEDIUM: Sculpture: marble; Base: brick. CONTROL NUMBER: IAS MI000571 Direct Link to the Individual Listing in the Smithsonian Art Inventory: [Web Link] PHYSICAL LOCATION: Northern end of Arborcrest Cemetery 2521 Glazier Way Ann Arbor, MI 48105 DIFFERENCES NOTED BETWEEN THE INVENTORY LISTING AND YOUR OBSERVATIONS AND RESEARCH: The main difference noted was the sculpture is a little more worn after 70 years of being outside than it appears to be on the Smithsonian site with some charcoal colored staining. Also in the Smithsonian website the quote at the bottom of the front is wrong. The first words are His example has inspired...not Their example has inspired.

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