In the early morning hours of Feb. 3, 1943, as the U.S. transport ship USAT Dorchester sank beneath the waves of the chilly Labrador Sea, troops who managed to make it onto lifeboats reported a curious sight: four men standing on the deck of the sinking ship, arms linked in prayer.

The men wore no life vests; they had given those away to other soldiers. One had given his gloves to another man, according to The Army Historical Foundation.

These were “The Four Chaplains,” who courageously gave their lives as they offered aid and comfort to the soldiers on the ship, which was bound for Greenland before it was struck by torpedoes from a German U-boat U-233. The four — Lt. George L. Fox (Methodist), Lt. Alexander D. Goode (Jewish), Lt. Clark V. Poling (Dutch Reformed) and Lt. John P. Washington (Roman Catholic) — will be remembered Saturday on the 81st anniversary of the Dorchester’s sinking.

Top, from left, George L. Fox and Alexander D. Goode. Bottom, from left, Clark V. Poling and John P. Washington. (U.S. Army)

Wreaths Across America will pay tribute with a Facebook live event at noon EST, broadcasting from the Balsam Valley Chapel in Maine.

The Dorchester set sail from New York City to Greenland on Jan. 23, 1943. The U.S. had signed an agreement with Denmark in 1941 pledging to defend Greenland from invasion during World War II, according to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. The more than 900 men on the Dorchester were on their way to replace personnel on the Greenland bases when the ship was hit.

Despite their differing faiths, the four chaplains were drawn to military service following the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.

As the Dorchester went down, the four men helped guide soldiers to escape hatches and lifeboats, with each sacrificing his life vest to another soldier. When Navy Petty Officer John J. Mahoney tried to return to his cabin to retrieve his gloves, Rabbi Goode stopped him.

“Never mind, I have two pairs,” Goode told Mahoney, taking off his gloves and giving them to the officer, according to a history from the Four Chaplains Memorial Foundation. Mahoney would later realize that Goode sacrificed his only pair of gloves, according to the foundation.

The ship was escorted by U.S. Coast Guard cutters USCGC Tampa, USCGC Escanaba, and USCGC Comanche. The Wreaths Across America program also will honor Coast Guardsman Charles Walter David Jr., who rescued 93 men from lifeboats and died 54 days later of pneumonia, according to a Wreaths Across America news release.

Only 230 men survived the Dorchester’s sinking, according to the Air Force museum’s fact sheet.

In December 1944, the four chaplains were posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and Purple Heart. Congress later authorized The Four Chaplains Commemorative Medal, which was awarded to the chaplains’ next of kin in 1961, according to the fact sheet.