On the same day Vice President JD Vance visited Greenland, President Donald Trump posted a compelling video highlighting the strong historical bonds between the Arctic nation and the United States.
On the same day Vice President JD Vance visited Greenland, President Donald Trump posted a compelling video highlighting the strong historical bonds between the Arctic nation and the United States.
The 90-second video touts past U.S. military efforts to defend and protect Greenland during World War II when the U.S. suffered hundreds of casualties after a Nazi U-boat torpedoed and sank the U.S. Army Transport Dorchester.
The U-boat struck in the dead of night on Feb. 3, 1943, killing dozens instantly while hundreds more succumbed to the icy waters of the Atlantic, according to the Defense Department. The incident is remembered four Army chaplains giving up their lives to save others.
“In the cold silence of the tundra, a bond was born. Not from treaties or trade, but from blood and bravery”, the narrator of the clip says. “While Germany controlled Europe, the Nazis set their sights on the Arctic. Greenland became an unwitting combatant and the United States stepped in, not to conquer but to protect.”
The video notes that nearly 1,000 service members, civilians and crew carried with them “hope, duty and a quiet fear” in a voyage they knew was rife with danger. But after the attack, the frigid waters of the North Atlantic “became a grave.”
“Those four chaplains gave up their life vests, giving their lives so that others might live to protect America and Greenland”, the narrator says.
