Customer Reviews

Look Out Below! A Story of the Airborne by a Paratrooper Padre

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a must-read for every American who values his freedom and who realizes that it depends on the brave sacrifices of others. When Steven Spielberg produced Saving Pvt Ryan, he unfortunately left out critical parts of this true story. It was the brave Catholic Chaplain Francis Sampson who actually did the dangerous job of Saving Pvt Ryan. Fr. Sampson was the chaplain to whom Fritz Niland went when he wanted prayer and help in going to locate the bodies of his 2 brothers who'd just been killed hours before in the Normandy invasion and he also was inform4ed of the death of his 3rd brother in Burma. The 4 brave Niland brothers--3 of whom went to Canisius College and 1 to Univ. of Buffalo in the 1930's before they entered the service along with their cousin Pete Niland--also 101st Airborne--and said brave family is acknowledged by Spielberg in the Prologue to Saving Pvt Ryan, would have made an outstanding movie of itself. But the life of Father Francis Sampson--who parachuted in 3 wars and was a POW twice in WW II and has been honored with hundreds of awards--is a hero whose outstanding life could easily alone become an outstandig movie. When you read Look Out Below! you'll get chills up your spine and tears in your eyes. What honor, bravery, love and guts! It makes me proud to be an American and a Catholic. God Bless Father Sampson, God Bless the Niland Family and God Bless America!

Saving Private Ryan was based on a short true account on page 86 of this book. Father Sampson of the 101st in Normandy is trying to help a young soldier find the cemetary his brother is in, when he is told that another brother is also dead, killed on the same day. Meanwhile, a third brother has been killed in the Pacific. Sampson gives a historical account of his life in the 101st. His tales of Normandy are especially riviting.

SN 6/7/1999

This is a classic book of military history and a truly rare book. If you're reading it, either you where blessed to know Father Sampson or have an obscure interest in military history of the rarest kind.

Father Sampson joined the US Army and volunteered for the paratroops as a chaplain. He was an unarmed hero more concerned with the welfare of his troops he parachuted into Normandy, France on D-Day, protected only with his devotion to God and his uncompromising faith. He was later captured at The Battle of the Bulge and spent the rest of the war in a German POW camp where he continued to serve his men.

Father Sampson would later serve in Korea and Vietnam and earned a large number of decorations for courage under fire. He even received a Purple Heart for wounds. Sampson was the right name for a man so brave and pure of heart.

I won't spoil this story for you as a reader. It's a great read about a man who was much better, much more courageous and decent a man than I.

The book reads wonderfully and is a joy to own. What can I say about it? Not only is it an inspirational story and a great history book. But honestly, it makes me want to be a better Catholic.

LOOK OUT BELOW! is perhaps the first book about the airborne to be written by one of these remarkable priests of God who leaped behind enemy lines and into the midst of combat with no weapon other than the sword of the spirit, no protection other than the shield of faith.

Lt. Col. Francis Sampson served as Chaplain with the 501st Parachute Regiement of the 101st Airborne Division. He participated in the D-Day and Market Garden drops, was captured at Bastogne and spend the last six months of the war in a German POW camp.

Here is the story of the airborne troopers told by the one who knew them best and with insights only a priest could possess. It is sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic, often heroic, but always honest and inspiring as seen through the understanding and sympathetic eyes of the paratrooper padre.

With photos, 234 pages.

didnt have a cover and there was some writing in it but it was in overall good condition