And now: “—Silence about the decks”
The March 2019 issue of The American Legion magazine has a short tribute to William G. Bunkelman—the last survivor of the SS Dorchester, who recently passed away at the age of 98. Bunkelman is credited with pulling 54 of the 230 survivors of the Dorchester from the icy waters of the Labrador Sea to safety on the morning of February 3, 1943.
The sinking of the Dorchester is probably most noted for “the four chaplains” who unselfishly gave up their life jackets, and their lives that day.
And now, all 904 of those aboard the Dorchester that night in 1943 have slipped beneath the waves, and into the history books. Let’s hope that they will never be forgotten.
/fl