Alexander D. Goode was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 10, 1911. His father was a
Rabbi and his mother, Fay had two other sons, Joseph and Moses, and a daughter, Agatha.
Alex received medals at Eastern High School, Washington, DC for tennis, swimming and
track. He led his class in scholarship too! He planned to follow in his father's footsteps and
become a Rabbi, but that did not keep him from having a laughing, shouting,
hail-fellow-well-met boyhood with all the Protestant and Catholic boys in his
neighborhood. He graduated from Eastern in 1929.
He entered the University of Cincinnati and graduated in 1934 with an A.B. degree...and
then on to Hebrew Union College with a B.H. degree in 1937. He later received his Ph.D.
from John Hopkins University in 1940.
Alex married his childhood sweetheart, Theresa Flax, daughter of Nathan and Rose Flax.
Theresa was a niece of singer and motion picture star, Al Jolson. They were married on
October 7, 1935. As an ordained Rabbi, his first assignment was a synagogue in Marion,
Indiana in 1936. On July 16, 1937 he was transferred to the Beth Israel synagogue in
York, Pennsylvania until mid 1942. Alex and Theresa had a daughter, Rosalie, who was
born in 1939.
In January 1941 he applied as a chaplain with the U.S. Navy but was not accepted at that
time. Right after Pearl Harbor, he tried again, this time with the Army, and received an
appointment on July 21, 1942. Chaplain Goode went on active duty on August 9, 1942 and
was selected for the Chaplains School at Harvard. He had courses in map reading, first aid,
law, and chemical warfare. Chaplain Goode was then assigned to the 333rd Airbase
Squadron in Goldsboro, North Carolina. In October 1942, he was transferred to Camp
Myles Standish in Taunton, Massachusetts and Alex was reunited with Chaplains Fox,
Poling and Washington, who were classmates at Harvard.
It was January 1943 when he boarded the USAT DORCHESTER in Boston and
embarkation to Greenland. Chaplain Goode was killed in action on February 3, 1943 in the
icy waters of the North Atlantic when the DORCHESTER was sunk by a German U-boat.
Chaplain Goode was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Distinguished Service
Cross.
