At a brief ceremony in the State House of Representatives, local state legislator, Dan Surra (right) received the prestigious “Legion of Honor of the Four Chaplains” Award from National Chapel Director Larry Babitts (left) of Boiling Springs, PA.

HARRISBURG--At a brief ceremony in the State House of Representatives, local state legislator, Dan Surra received the prestigious “Legion of Honor of the Four Chaplains” Award. Surra who has represented both Elk and Clearfield Counties for more than 18 years, was honored for his consistent support if issues that impact the veteran’s community.

“Our staff research  shows that Dan Surra has never missed an opportunity to support or advocate for the veteran’s community,” said National Chapel Director Larry Babitts of Boiling Springs, PA.

This coveted award is given only after deliberate consideration of a nominee’s lifetime history of selfless service to the community, the state, the nation or the world as exemplified by the action of the four chaplains during World War II. These four U.S. Army Chaplains were sailing aboard an old troop transport when it was torpedoed off the coast of Greenland by a Nazi submarine in 1943. The four chaplains gave away their own life-vests to soldiers who had none, thus giving away their only chance of survival. These four men of God drowned that day along with more than 600 other servicemen.

“One of the most interesting aspects to this extraordinary story is that the chaplains all represented different faiths: one was a Roman Catholic priest, another a Jewish Rabbi, a Pastor of the Dutch Reformed and a Methodist Minister,” Babitts continued.

“In their memory, in 1951, the Chapel of Four Chaplains was created at Temple University in Philadelphia and took as part of their mission the recognition of those who exemplified a personal history of selfless service to their community, state or nation as mirrored by the four chaplains,” he concluded.

The first recipient of this award was President Harry

S. Truman, later followed by Presidents Eisenhower and Carter. Generals Westmoreland and Schwartzkopf, the father of the atomic navy Admiral Hyman Rickover and Admiral Zumwalt. Additionally, U.S. Senator Harris Wofford as well as both Governors Rendell, Ridge and Pennsylvania’s first female Lieutenant Governor, Catherine Baker Knoll have all been honored.

Other significant recipients include world-famous comedians Bob Hope, Martha Raye and Mickey Rooney. Cardinals John Krol of San Diego, Wright of Chicago and recently retired Bevilaqua of Philadelphia as well as His All Holiness Bartholomew I of Constantinople who is the Patriarch of the Greek Church and to more than 300-million Orthodox Catholics also top the recipient list.

Such international luminaries as His Majesty Juan Carlos, the King of Spain, Jeanne the Grand Duke du Luxembourg and former British Prime Minister Dame Margaret Thatcher and the late Premiere of France Francoise Mitterand have all received this award. World class sports figures as former World Heavyweight boxing champions “Smoking” Joe Frazier and Tex Cobb and Baseball Hall of Fame Figure Tommy Lasorda of the Los Angeles Dodgers fame and a host of other less well-known good people are also listed among the Legion of Honor recipients.

The present chapel is located in the Philadelphia Navy Yard and is open to visitors on weekdays or by appointment.