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Sampson monument to be dedicated May 30

Lead Summary
By
Lori Sorenson i

In the cemeteries of Rock County, there's a story for every flag and veteran's marker. Some have been told before and others are known only to a few.
Father Francis Sampson, who is buried in St. Catherine Cemetery, is relatively unknown to local residents, but his story of service in World War II was told through the 1998 Academy Awardwinning movie, “Saving Private Ryan,” starring Tom Hanks.
After Monday’s Memorial Day mass, St. Catherine parishioners will gather at Sampson’s graveside to dedicate a new stone monument in honor of the distinguished war hero. The 6-foot-tall quartzite monument displays a bronze plaque that tells the story of Sampson’s military career.
Sampson was a military chaplain known for staying with the enlisted men he served … and that included jumping with the paratroopers into dangerous places. In June 1944 he jumped as the Normandy Invasion began.
He was captured, escaped and then stayed with 14 wounded men as the Americans pulled back from counterattacking Germans. He was wounded. He earned the Distinguished Service Cross for his efforts.
He returned to England, jumped again into Holland, was captured in Belgium and was imprisoned in Germany until 1945.
Father Sampson, who was ordained as a priest in 1941, served as an Army chaplain from 1942 until he retired in 1971. In addition to serving in World War II, he also served in Korea and Vietnam.
During his military career, he rose to the rank of major general and chief of chaplains, and he was awarded over 18 medals and honors for his exemplary service to the United States and the world.
He wrote two books about his military chaplain career. His autobiography, “Look Out Below,” served as inspiration for the 1998 movie, “Saving Private Ryan.” His other book is called “Paratrooper Padre.”
Sampson always said he saw a direct connection between being a priest and a soldier.
 “They are both called to the identical things,” he wrote.
“That is the preservation of peace, the establishment of justice when it has been lost, and the providing of security with protection for the weak and the innocent.”
Sampson went on to serve the USO and as a priest in the Diocese of Sioux Falls.
Born in 1912 in Cherokee, Iowa, he died Jan. 28, 1996, in Sioux Falls. He chose St. Catherine Cemetery because his mother was buried there.
In one of his books he wrote that his mother, who died in 1942 in Oregon, wanted to be buried in Luverne because she was born and spent her childhood there. It was “the place she always called ‘home,’ the place she loved above all others.”
Sampson is buried next to his mother, Philomena Ryan, and her sister, Gertrude Ryan.
Sampson’s father ran a hotel in Luverne, and his mother worked there, too. Sampson attended high school in Sioux Falls and Portland, Oregon, before graduating from Notre Dame in 1937.
The monument will be dedicated in St. Catherine Cemetery in Luverne Monday after the 4 p.m. Memorial Day Mass. The monument project is funded by the Knights of Columbus and the LCCW.

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