(316) Chaplain Major General Francis L. Sampson: He Jumped with His Men During the Normandy Invasion & the Battle of the Bulge

 AMDG

A Review of an Article By Lawrence P. Grayson

Chaplain Major General Francis L. Sampson

      The Normandy Invasion. It was early morning June 6, 1944 about 1 am.  All Normandy (France) and the German troops were still asleep as the largest armada ever was preparing to invade …..5000 ships and 200,000 men as part of Operation Overlord.  It was D-Day!  At the same time 882 U.S. planes dropped 13,000 troops of the 82^nd and 101^st Airborne divisions behind enemy lines.  The mission was to secure a number of causeways and create safety zones where gliders could land at first light to bring in enforcements. 

    Among those dropping in the dark sky was Fr. Francis L. Sampson, a young Catholic chaplain, making his first combat jump.  Landing in a deep stream, he cut away his hundred-twenty-plus-pound pack and was dragged into shallower water before he could unbuckle his chute. He then repeatedly dove into the water to retrieve his weapons:…..a Mass kit and holy oils for anointing the severely wounded.

       Fr. Francis joined other paratroopers and they made their way to a French farmhouse that was being used for those who were severely wounded or injured in the jump.  A Protestant chaplain was already there and the two of them provided first aid for most of the day.  When it was clear that some of the men needed a doctor’s care, Chaplain Sampson left to find the regimental aid station. Shortly after locating it, a decision was made to pull out.  The chaplain volunteered to remain with the men who could not walk.

        At dawn, German troops overran the house. Two soldiers took the priest outside and raised their rifles to shoot him, when a German NCO, a Catholic, stopped them.  After being interrogated, Fr. Sampson was allowed to return to the wounded. That night, the house was shelled and partially collapsed killing several men. Later that day, the Americans regained the position, and the priest accompanied the injured to the division hospital.

Here there were 500-600 wounded men.  As the injured were continually coming in, Fr. Francis assisted the division chaplain in spiritually administering to both American and German casualties.  The next day, he went to the newly established division cemetery, where several hundred bodies lay wrapped in parachutes.  He read the internment ritual and remained for the burials. Fr. Sampson was in combat for another three weeks, working with aid men to rescue the wounded, offering Mass, hearing confessions, anointing the dying, and praying for the dead.

       The Battle of the Bulge. All of this began with a farm boy in Iowa.  Ordained in 1941, he served briefly as a parish priest before enlisting in the Army, early the following year.  While in Chaplains School, he volunteered for the paratroopers and was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division.  In September 1944, three months after his experiences in Normandy, Chaplain Sampson took part in an airborne assault on Holland.  

    When the men were moving to their planes, the chaplain stood outside the hangar shaking hands and blessing the men. Upon jumping behind enemy lines, he and the regimental doctor set up an aid station in a castle.  Fr. Francis went to find the commanding officer to inform him of their position. While he was away, the Germans seized the castle and everyone inside.

     Here there were 500-600 wounded men. As the injured were continually coming in, Fr. Francis assisted the division chaplain in spiritually administering to both American and German casualties. The next day, he went to the newly established division cemetery, where several hundred bodies lay wrapped in parachutes.  He read the internment ritual and remained for the burials.  Father Sampson was in combat for another three weeks, working with aid men to rescue the wounded, offering Mass, hearing confessions, anointing the dying, and praying for the dead.

In December, the German forces began a massive offensive.  The 101st was ordered to hold a vital crossroads at Bastogne.  Learning that a number of American paratroopers were machine-gunned and left on a nearby road, Fr, Francis took a jeep to aid them.  He ran into a German unit and was taken prisoner.

In the ensuing days, he and a growing contingent of Allied prisoners were marched from Belgium through Luxembourg to Germany.  On Christmas Eve, with the prisoners confined in a school auditorium, American planes bombed the area. Fr. Sampson led the men in prayer and song and spoke of the presence of Christ among them.  Over a ten-day period, the prisoners had been marched 185 miles.  Some 1,500 of them then were herded into overcrowded boxcars, where they remained for almost six days.  Given neither food nor water, their only sustenance was snow scraped from the tops of the boxcars as they traveled to their destination, Stalag II-A Neubrandenburg, a prison camp in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in northern Germany.

Fr. Francis was the only Catholic priest among the 950 Americans in a camp that held some 26,000 prisoners of various nationalities.  He had the men build a chapel in his barracks, where he held daily Mass and a non-denominational prayer service twice a week. As the war drew to a close, restrictions on the prisoners eased.  On Good Friday, Father Sampson led the men in the Stations of the Cross, and gave an hour’s meditation on the life of Christ.  On Easter Sunday, he joined with French, Dutch and Polish Catholic priests, who were imprisoned, to celebrate together a Solemn High Mass for several thousand prisoners.  In April 1945, after four months in the Stalag, the Russians liberated the camp.

       Korea.  After the war, the Military Ordinariate, Francis Cardinal Spellman.asked Fr. Francis to reenlist. When the Korean War started, the Chaplain was with the 11th Airborne Division.  Shortly after the Americans landed at Inchon, the North Koreans retreated across the 38th parallel, with the 1st Cavalry Division in pursuit. The 11th Airborne was ordered to cutoff the fleeing enemy and rescue some 2,000 American prisoners.

.

    However, they had been moved.  Although they did not rescue the Americans, they were able to capture several thousand North Korean soldiers.  As the Chinese had entered the war, the Americans were severely outnumbered and retreated south.  Fr. Francis was busy ministering to the men.

       Fr. Sampson remained in the Army, assuming increasing responsibilities.  In 1967, he was appointed Chief of Chaplains of the Army, with the rank of major general.  After he retired in 1971, he was appointed as head of the USO that serves active duty soldiers on leave.  During the Vietnam War, he made annual Christmas visits to the troops, and was untiring in visiting wounded soldiers in hospitals.  He died in January 1996, having received many military honors, including the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroism at Normandy and the Distinguished Service Medal.