The White Falcon - 02.10.1998, Blaðsíða 2

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Who Really Saved Private Ryan?
By Chaplain Robert L. Keane
Don’t believe the movie! Like most
films, Saving Private Ryan has taken a
thread of truth and woven it into a fantastic
tale. Box office entertainment has once
again usurped the place of true inspiration.
Fritz Niland of Tonawanda, N.Y., was a
young paratrooper with the 501st Airborne
Regiment, who jumped into Normandy dur-
ing the Allied Invasion in June, 1944.
During a lull in the fighting several weeks
later, Niland went to look for his brother
Robert, also a paratrooper with the 82nd
Airborne. Robert’s commanding officer
delivered the news that he had been killed
on D-Day while manning a machine gun
emplacement on Utah Beach.
Niland wanted to visit the grave of his
brother and sought the help of his regimen-
tal chaplain, Father Francis Sampson, of
Cherokee, Iowa. “Father Sam,” as he was
known, had volunteered for the Army
Chaplain Corps, and went through para-
trooper school at the age of 30. Together
they learned that Robert was probably
buried near Sainte-Mere-Eglise, the first
town liberated in Normandy. At the
makeshift cemetery. Father Sampson had
COLA continued from page one
go for a dinner out and entertainment?
Think about any special purchases or
expenses in Iceland such as car inspection
and pet quarantine. COLA is based on
your expenditures, not your plans. You
don’t ‘send a message' to the COLA
Commission by writing on your survey
that you can’t afford to shop off base.”
To help participants properly fill out the
living-pattern survey, questions can be
answered by each command’s or unit’s
COLA representative. Forms need to be
returned to command COLA representa-
tives no later than Oct. 9.
the unenviable duty of informing Fritz
Niland that his brother Robert’s name was
not on the roster, though a Niland was list-
ed.
This turned out to be another brother, a
Lieutenant in the 90th Infantry Division.
Both brothers had been killed just a few
days apart. Niland prayed at this grave, and
then went off with Sampson to find the
grave of his brother Robert. The tragedy of
this discovery was made even worse by
receiving the news that a third brother had
just been killed in the war in the Pacific. It
was the chaplain who foresaw the delivery
of three death notices at the Niland home,
and who decided that the Niland family had
done enough. Within a very few days the
young man was on his way home to comfort
his grieving mother.
There was no heroic search and rescue
mission in the real instance. Only a chap-
lain who cared enough to listen and share
the grief of his men. Nobody ever made a
movie about Sampson. I guess it wouldn’t
sell at the box office.
Hollywood might have taken note of the
big picture, however. Sampson went on to
be a prisoner of war three times in the next
10 months. He remained in the Army
throughout the Korean conflict and the war
in Vietnam, and retired in 1971 as Maj.
Gen. Francis Sampson, the Chief of Army
Chaplains.
So, what is the moral of the story? First,
Hollywood may never make a movie about
your life, but God sees the good that you
do, and takes note. Second, do whatever
good you can for another person. It will
make a difference, and may be a matter of
life and death. Ask the Niland Family.
Former Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy ... etcivksw)
John Hagan was the guest speaker for last Saturday’s Khaki Ball. Hagan, the eighth
MCPON since the position’s inception, welcomed the NATO Base’s 10 new chief petty
officers into the “khaki community.” The Khaki Ball is a Navy-wide yearly celebration
honoring the service’s new E-7s. (Photo by JOC Christine June)
Commander, Iceland Defease Force
Rear Adm. Daniel L. Kloeppcl
Deputy Commander, Iceland Defense Force
Col. John J. Walters
Commander, 85th (iroup
Col. Michael C. Hcnchcy
Chief of Staff, Fleet Air Kcflavik
Capt. Kenneth A. Morrell Jr.
Command Chaplain
Cmdr. Robert P. Cooper
Staff Journalist
J03 Mike C. Jones
Commanding Officer, NAS Kcflavik
Capt. Allen A. Efraimson
The White Falcon
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Chief Petty Officer
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J02 Rob Wise
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The White Falcon