Dr. David Briscoe, a university professor of sociology at UA Little Rock, has recently been awarded the Legion of Honor Bronze Medallion by the Chapel of Four Chaplains for his humanitarian efforts.

The Legion of Honor Bronze Medallion is granted for extraordinary contributions to the well-being of others at the national or world level to world peace and inter-faith and inter-ethnic understanding.

“To whom much is given, much more is required,” Briscoe said.

Briscoe’s award honors his service to the youth of America and his commitment and dedication to academic excellence worldwide. He has participated in the Boy Scouts of America for 55 years. As a member of the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America, Briscoe became the inaugural national chairman of Learning for Life, an academic and character development program serving more than 1.7 million students throughout the United States.

Briscoe has taught at UA Little Rock for 30 years. He has more than 60 honors for academic excellence and service, including the 2020 recipient of the Faculty Excellence Award in Public Service, the 2021 recipient of the Faculty Excellence Award in Teaching, and being the first UA Little Rock faculty member appointed the honorific title of university professor this spring.

The award publicly recognizes and honors outstanding members of society whose lives model the giving spirit and unconditional service to community, nation, and humanity without regard to race, religion, or creed as exemplified by the Four Chaplains.

The Chapel of Four Chaplains honors those who encourage sacrifice and interfaith cooperation just like the four chaplains who gave their lives on the U.S.A.T. Dorchester. On February 3, 1943, a German U-boat torpedoed the ship just 90 miles short of its destination in Greenland.

Out of the 902 passengers on board, only 230 survived. The four chaplains of different faiths gave their life jackets to four men that they might be saved, and they themselves went down with the ship to a watery grave. Those chaplains were Lt. George L. Fox, Methodist; Lt. Alexander D. Goode, Jewish; Lt. John P. Washington, Roman Catholic; and Lt. Clark V. Poling, Dutch Reformed.