Team Osan civilian awarded Chaplain Corps' highest honor

  • Published
  • By Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Bruce Glover
  • 51st Fighter Wing chaplain
OSAN AIR BASE, REPUBLIC OF KOREA --  The Spirit of the Four Chaplains Award is the highest distinction that anyone associated with the USAF Chaplain Corps can receive.

Each year, this unique award is given to one who has given his life away in service to others.

This year, we are pleased to announce that the USAF Chaplain Corps has chosen one recipient: Mr. Un Sop "Tadu" Yi, who has served Osan and the Osan Chapel for the last 57 years. 57 years! Ever since the Korean War, Tadu has faithfully and joyfully served along with a long line of chaplains, chaplain assistants, and parishioners.

The story of the Four Chaplains starts out like a joke: there were four chaplains on a ship out in the middle of the Atlantic: a priest, a rabbi, and two Protestants. However, there is nothing humorous about their moving story.

It was the dead of winter and the dead of night, the 3rd of February, 1943 when the U.S.S. Dorchester was plying its way through the frigid waters of the north Atlantic about 100 miles off the coast of Greenland. At about 1:00 in the morning a German U-boat torpedoed the Dorchester, with more than 900 men on board.

First-hand accounts reveal the self¬less heroism of the four chaplains, as they stood on deck handing out life jackets until the life jackets ran out.
 
After giving up their own life jackets to waiting soldiers, the four chaplains stood arm-in-arm on deck praying for themselves and all the imperiled men as the ship sank into the icy waters.

Nearly 700 of the 900 men died, including the four chaplains.

Each year the USAF Chaplain Corps honors the memory of these four chaplains (Father John Washington, Reverend Clark Poling, Rabbi Alexander Goode, and Rev. George Fox) by selecting one or several individuals who best exemplify the sacrificial service, compassion, and faith of the Four Chaplains. 

Across the Air Force, Tadu's service is legendary, and we are so thankful to honor his faithfulness through this award.

As it is said of the Four Chaplains and of Tadu, may it also be said of us: they lived their lives for others not for themselves.