PARATROOPER PADRE
CHAPLAIN FRANCIS L. SAMPSON 101 ST AIRBORNE
By Rebecca Higgins
The 1998 Steven Spielberg movie Saving Private Ryan packed an emotional punch from the first scenes of the June 6th D-Day landings until the final moments of the movie. It is based on a true story, but not the one many people assumed. Most believed that it was woven around the story of the five Sullivan Brothers who were killed when the light cruiser that all of them were serving on was sunk. The Sullivans were the impetus for the “Sole Surviving Son” policy that would bring home the last member of a family if other members were killed, but they were not the inspiration for the movie. The movie is very loosely based on a small incident in the amazing military career of Chaplain Francis L. Sampson. Father Sampson, who retired from the US Army as a Major General began his career in the 101st Airborne as a First Lieutenant Chaplain in 1942 jumping into France on D-Day. He served in the Korean War and ended his career as Chief of Chaplains during Vietnam in 1971. After retirement he served as the head of the USO. He published two books in the late 1950’s about his time in the Army, Paratrooper Padre and Look Out Below. Father Sampson’s story is worth knowing because he embodies the best of all of the military Chaplains. Lieutenant General Thomas Hickey describes them, particularly the paratrooper chaplains, as “…these remarkable priests of God who leaped behind enemy lines and into the midst of combat with no weapon other than the sword of the spirit, no protection other than the shield of faith.” During WWII, after jumping into Normandy with the 101st , Father Sampson was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions in staying with an aid station that was about to be overrun by the German forces. He was captured and interrogated, but released by a Catholic German and allowed to attended to the wounded American and Germans in the buildings as the fighting continued. The aid station was recaptured by the Americans. After Father Sampson’s second combat jump into Holland, the 101st was sent to Bastogne to plug holes in the lines and stop the German advance in that sector. Father Sampson was again taken prisoner of war. After a forced march of 185 miles in 10 days he and the other POWs were put in box cars, 60 men to a car, and held there for 6 and ½ days with no food or water while enroute to the German POW camp. He was held for four months as a POW in Stalag II A, near Neubrandenburg, Germany. He requested to be allowed to stay with the enlisted men rather than the officers to give the men aid and attention. There were between five to six thousand men being held in the camp. The Russians liberated Stalag II A in late April of 1945 at which time Father Sampson gained his freedom. After Father Sampson’s service in WWII, he went back to civilian life for short while, but returned to the military and served in the Korean War. His third combat jump was into Sunchon, Korea. He served in combat for seven months in Korea before a surgery saw him rotated to Japan. Father Sampson finished his military career in 1971 as the Chief of Military Chaplains. After retirement he served as President of the USO and later as an Assistant to the President of Notre Dame University in charge of the ROTC Department. He passed away in in 1996 at age 83. "Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:" is the inscription on his tombstone. The incident that inspired Saving Private Ryan involves Father Samson and Private Frederick Niland of the 101st Airborne. Word had been received by Division Headquarters that “Fritz” Niland’s 3 brothers had been killed in action. Robert Niland had died on D-Day jumping in with the 82nd Airborne, Preston Niland was killed a day later near Omaha Beach, and brother Edward was shot down over Burma and presumed dead. Like many of the paratroopers on D-Day, Fritz had become separated from his unit during the drop into Normandy. Father Sampson found Fritz, got him back to the Headquarters and sent home, even though Fritz wished to stay with the 101st . The family’s pain was somewhat mitigated when brother, Edward, was discovered a year later, alive, in a Japanese POW camp in Burma. Steven Spielberg spun from this simple story an unforgettable movie of devotion and strength. More Reading: “Look Out Below” by Francis L Sampson is the expanded version of “Paratrooper Padre” and includes his life after WWII. Understand that the book was written in the late 1950s and uses what were then the polite words for minority soldiers.
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