SAVING PRIVATE RYAN

        The current movie was developed from an event which took place in Fr. Francis Sampson's book, Look Out Below!  (On pages 78-79).  This is what Fr. Sampson wrote:

  When the regiment was bivouacked near Utah Beach waiting for the boats to take us back to England, a young soldier by the name of Fritz Niland came to see me.  He was very troubled in mind.  The company commander of his brother, who was with the 508th Regiment, told Fritz that his brother had been killed and was buried in the Sainte-Mere-Eglise cemetery.  "We jumped in my jeep and drove the twenty miles back to that town.  In checking the cemetery roster I couldn't find the boys name.

    "There's no William Niland listed here Fritz," I said encouragingly, "though there is a Roland Niland listed."

    "Father... that's my brother too.  He was a lieutenant in the 90th Division."  The unhappy boy tried to choke back the tears.  After saying a few prayers at the grave, we went to another cemetery just a few blocks away where we found the grave we were looking for originally.   A third brother had just been killed in the Pacific.

    As we were driving back to the bivouac area, Fritz kept saying over and over again, more to himself than to me, "What will poor Butch do now?  What will poor Butch do now?"

    "Who is Butch, son?"   I asked.

    "Butch?  Oh, she's my mother."  I looked at him and wondered if he were suffering from combat exhaustion and the terrible shock of this afternoon's discovery.  He must have read my thoughts, for he explained, "We four boys always called Mom "Butch" these last few years.  That's because, when we wanted to listen to swing orchestras and jive bands on the radio, mom would always turn on "Gangbusters" or some other program about gangsters...she liked those.  Now I'm the only son left."   Mrs. Niland had received three tragic wires within a week, however, we managed to get Fritz sent back to the states, so Butch still had one son to comfort her.

  This book is available through the 101st Airborne Division Association or through me.  If you purchase the book through me, make check out to the 101st Airborne Division Association.  The price is $22.50 which includes postage and handling.

    The 266 page book covers Father Sampsons parachute training at Fort Benning, Camp Mackall, England, Normandy, Holland, Bastogne (he is captured the 2nd day, POW experiences, Korea, Notre Dame as ROTC advisor.  Every "Geronimo" ought to have this book in his library.

            George E. Koskimaki, 1222 Charleston Court, Northville, MI 48167-3308, telephone (248) 348-1037