Five members of the United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps, Rochester CA 124, paid tribute to Chaplains: Father John Washington (Catholic) Reverend Clark D. Poling (Dutch Reformed), Rabbi Alexander Goode (Jewish) and Reverend George Fox (Methodist), at a service held at Western Presbyterian Church, Palmyra on Feb. 5.

The four Chaplains were honored posthumously with a special Congressional Medal of Valor in 1961 created for them only. The Chaplains died aboard the USAT Dorchester, a U S Army troop ship that was sunk by torpedoes on February 3, 1943 after their selfless acts of courage and interfaith compassion as the ship was sinking.

This was the seventeenth year Wayne County American Legion and featured NSCC Cadets for the first time. Participating Cadets were: SN Matthew Cordaro, SN Brandon Deasey, SN Caleb Kopp, SA Alex Martens and P O 2nd Andrew Rosein. The Cadets posted and retrieved The Colors and read the individual tributes to the Chaplains.

The NSCC is a program for American youths 13 – 17 who have a desire to learn about the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Merchant Marines. Their objective is to introduce youth to naval life, to develop a sense of pride, patriotism, courage and self-reliance and to maintain an environment free of drugs and gangs.

LT Raymond Freyn, Commanding Officer of the NSCC CA 124 and Wayne County American Legion Commander said, “I’ve wanted to do this for years. They did a great job today.”

More information about the NSCC program is available online at www.seacadets.org or contact Raymond Freyn at 315-690-1777.