Notre Dame and Saving Private Ryan History

Quiz Question:  What did the movie, “Saving Private Ryan”; the book, “Band of Brothers”; and Notre Dame all have in common..??

By MAJ Masapollo

       For those who have seen the movie, “Saving Private Ryan”; you understand that the premise of the movie is based upon a squad of men (lead by actor, Tom Hanks) trying to find a Private James Ryan of the 101^st Airborne Division during the midst of the Normandy invasion.  Private Ryan’s other brothers had been killed in different theaters and as the sole surviving son; the military authorities wanted to send him back to the states to his family.  Hank’s patrol was being sent out to find him in the midst of battle.

     Likewise, for those who have read the book, “Band of Brothers” by Stephen E. Ambrose; a similar story centers around a soldier named, Fritz Niland contained on pages 102-03.  In Ambrose’s version; Easy Company soldier, Fritz Niland is being sent home because he had just learned the news that his brother, Bob had been killed on D-Day with the 82^nd Airborne Division; while another brother had also been killed on D-Day with the 4^th Infantry Division at Utah Beach.  Regretfully, his third brother; who had been a pilot in the China-Burma theater had been killed during that same week.          

     Unlike the underlying basis for the patrol in the Steven Spielberg movie; Ambrose’s account refers to the 101st Airborne Division Regimental Chaplain; a priest named Father Francis Sampson who was looking for Fritz in order to escort him back to Utah Beach where a plane would fly him to London on the first leg of his return to the States.   Who was this Father Sampson, the one-man patrol sent to find Fritz Niland..?? 

     Father Francis Sampson ’37; was a Notre Dame graduate.  After graduating from ND,  he attended the seminary and was ordained a Catholic priest in 1941.  In 1942, he was commissioned as an Army Chaplain and was later assigned as an Army Chaplain with the 101^st Airborne Division.  Monsignor Sampson would later jump into Normandy on the morning of June 6, 1944 as a member of the 101^st Airborne Division.  He would later be captured by the Germans, but soon escaped and rejoined the 101^st Airborne in time to jump again into the Battle of the Bulge on December 19, 1944.  By the end of World War II, Monsignor Sampson was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (second only to the Medal of Honor), the Distinguished Service Medal, and the Purple Heart.  In addition, he was recognized for making two combat jumps with the 101^st Airborne Division.  He later would go on to serve in the Korean War as an Army Chaplain with the 187^th Regimental Combat Team (Airborne) and make his third combat jump.  He would later be ordained a Monsignor in the Catholic Church in 1967.   He continued to rise through the ranks to eventually serve as the Army Chief of Chaplains from 1967-71.  After retiring from the military in 1971, he would later serve as a Special Assistant to the President of Notre Dame from 1983-86.  In 1985, Monsignor Sampson was the first recipient of the Notre Dame Alumni Association’s Corby Award.  The Corby award is conferred each year to a Notre Dame graduate who exemplifies the “values and true spirit of Notre Dame while serving in active or reserve service.”  Monsignor Sampson passed away in January 1996.

     So the next time you’re walking up to the main office; stop and take a quick in the display case next to the ROTC Chaplain’s office at the photo of Monsignor Francis Sampson.  He truly was a remarkable person; and lived by the words, “God, Country, Notre Dame”.