On February 3, 1943, a troop ship named The Dorchester was carrying more than nine hundred soldiers and military personnel across the North Atlantic. A German U-boat spotted the convoy and fired three torpedoes at the ship. Only one struck the target, but the blast below the waterline fatally damaged the ship. In the cold darkness, the crew was ordered to abandon ship. There were not enough lifeboats for all the men, nor were there enough life jackets.
Four chaplains aboard the ship that night helped comfort those injured in the explosion and those who feared the coming of death. When the ship was ready to sink, the chaplains took off their life jackets and handed them to four young soldiers who had none. They gave up their own lives in order to save others. The heroic gesture inspired a nation, and Congress voted a special posthumous medal in their honor.
Most of us are not called upon to physically lay down our lives, but there are many people who need our help. People all around us who don’t know the Lord need us to give them the Gospel.