Father Francis L. Sampson, USA (February 29, 1912 - January 28, 1996) was a Catholic priest from Archdiocese for the Military Services and an American Army officer who served as the 12th Chief of Chaplains of the United States Army from 1967-1971. His real-life story of rescuing a young soldier became the inspiration for the film Saving Private Ryan, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks.
Born in Cherokee, Iowa, he attended the University of Notre Dame, graduating in 1937, and entered St. Paul's Seminary at Saint Paul, Minnesota. He was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood for the Des Moines, Iowa, diocese in 1941. He then served briefly as a parish priest in Neola, Iowa, and also taught at Dowling High School in Des Moines.
Father Sampson received permission from his bishop, the Most Reverend Gerald T. Bergan, of Des Moines, Iowa to enter the United States Army as a chaplain. He received his initial entry training into the Army chaplaincy during World War II at Harvard University. After finishing the course, Sampson volunteered for an airborne assignment.
He entered the Army in 1942 and was commissioned. He then joined the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, of the 101st Airborne Division, as the regimental chaplain. He jumped into Normandy on D-Day, into Holland, and during the Battle of the Bulge, at Bastogne, was captured and spent six months in a German Prisoner of War Camp. As Chaplain of the 187th RCT he made his third combat jump at Sunchon, North Korea.
Following military retirement, he served as Chief of Chaplains and as President of the USO, visiting troops in Vietnam annually from 1966-1973. He became a master Parachutist and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Distinguished Service Medal, Bronze Star Medal, Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Purple Heart and many other U.S. and foreign awards and decorations.
He died in Luverne, Minnesota in 1996, aged 83.
