Bio

George L. Fox was born in Lewistown, Pennsylvania on March 15, 1900.  At 17 he lied about his age and joined the Army and served on the Western front during WWI as a medical orderly. He received the Silver Star, Purple Heart and the Croix de Guerre for his meritorious service. After the war he worked for a Trust company in New York City, but felt a calling to become a servant of God and enrolled in Moody Bible Institute in the fall of 1923 and began his studies to become a missionary in Africa.  Soon he met fellow student Isadore Hurlbut and the two wed a few months later in January 1924.   Fox and his new wife moved back to New York City to resume life as an accountant, but soon the call to serve God returned and he left his successful career to become an Itinerant Methodist Minister in various parishes in Vermont and in Downs Illinois having to uproot his family every couple of years as part of his job .  He became ordained in 1934 after studying theology at Boston University.  George & Isadore had two children, a son Wyatt Ray was born in 1924, and daughter Mary Elizabeth born in 1928.   George was the American Legion Department Chaplain and Department Historian for Vermont.  Deeply affected by the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Rev. Fox joined the Army again in 1942 on the same day his son joined the Marine Corps.  He attended Harvard University’s Chaplains school where he met fellow chaplains: Alexander D. Goode, Clark V. Poling and John P. Washington.  In January 1943 he departed with 900 soldiers on the Transport ship Dorchester.  Shortly after midnight on February 3rd, 1943 a German Submarine U-223 spotted the convoy and fired a torpedo which struck the Dorchester.   Hundreds of men packed the decks of the rapidly sinking ship and scrambled for lifeboats. Several of the lifeboats had been damaged and the Four Chaplains helped organize and calm the passengers. They distributed jackets from a locker and when the supply of life jackets ran out, each of the chaplains gave theirs to soldiers. When the last lifeboat cleared away, the chaplains prayed with those unable to escape the sinking ship.  27 minutes after the torpedo hit, the Dorchester sunk with 672 men still on board. When the Four Chaplains were last seen they were standing on the slanted deck, arms linked and praying together and giving comfort to those who would surely perish.  George L. Fox was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Purple Heart and,  along with his fellow chaplains, received National acclaim for bravery.  The Four Chaplains Medal was established by act of Congress on July 14, 1960 which carries the same weight and importance as the Medal of Honor.  The Four Chaplains are the only ones to have ever been awarded this medal.