Born in 1912 in Cherokee, Iowa, Francis Sampson moved frequently as a child, and graduated from high school in Portland, Oregon. He then entered Indiana University at Bloomington in 1932, and the following year transferred to Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana, where he graduated in 1937. After a year of advanced study at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., he entered Saint Paul Seminary in Minnesota, where he was ordained a Catholic Priest in 1941. He was assigned to the Des Moines Diocese, and served briefly as a parish priest in Neola, Iowa, before being sent as a teacher to Dowling High School in Des Moines. Volunteering for military service, he was commissioned a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army ChaplainÕs Corps in May 1942, and assigned to the 90th Motorized Division. In January 1943, he attended the one-month Chaplain School at Harvard University, and then volunteered for airborne training. After earning his jump wings he was assigned to the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, and deployed with them to the war in Europe in 1944. He parachuted with the 101st Airborne Division behind friendly lines on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and earned the Distinguished Service Cross during the first two days of the invasion. He was captured by the Germans and held as a Prisoner of War twice in World War II. In 1966 he was appointed Deputy Chief of Chaplains of the United States Army, and promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. He was promoted to Major General and Chief of Chaplains in 1967, and served until 1971, making annual trips to Vietnam to minister to the American troops serving there. He also served as president of the USO from 1971 to 1974, and from 1983 to 1987 was assistant to the president of Notre Dame as Director of ROTC.
Sponsored by:
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Cemetery:
Awards Received
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Distinguished Service Cross
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Distinguished Service Cross
Service:
United States ArmyRank:
Captain (Chaplain’s Corps)Regiment:
501st Parachute Infantry RegimentDivision:
101st Airborne DivisionAction Date:
June 6 & 7, 1944
War Department, General Orders No. 91 (December 19, 1944)The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Captain (Chaplain’s Corps) Francis L. Sampson (ASN: 0-471891), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving as a Chaplain with Service Company, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, in action against enemy forces on 6 and 7 June 1944, at Balise Addeville, France. On the afternoon of D-Day a small force of parachute infantry was forced to evacuate its position to the enemy’s advance. Chaplain Sampson, though strongly urged otherwise, elected to remain behind with fourteen seriously wounded men. When the enemy seized the position Chaplain Sampson immediately made his presence known so that no attack would be made on the wounded men. Granted permission to remain with the wounded, he valiantly struggled in the face of the most hazardous and difficult conditions to keep the men alive. On the second night during an artillery barrage which lasted four hours and virtually demolished the house, he administered blood plasma and aid to the wounded. As three shells hit the building he threw his body across the wounded to protect them. He made numerous trips across a shell-swept courtyard to ascertain the condition of one of the most seriously wounded men. When a shell destroyed the adjacent room, fatally injuring the two men therein, he went immediately to their assistance and attempted to dig them out from the debris. He suffered a second-degree burn from a tracer bullet but continued to care for the wounded. In the morning, after the Germans left the vicinity, an evacuation party arrived. Assured that the living wounded were evacuated to the division hospital, Chaplain Sampson proceeded to the same hospital where he gave a seriously wounded man a liter of blood and spent the remainder of the day and night rendering physical and spiritual aid to the wounded. The courage, fortitude, and heroism displayed by Chaplain Sampson are worthy of emulation. His extraordinary heroism, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself, the 101st Airborne Division, and the United States Army.