It was May 1944, and D-Day—the coordinated landing of nearly 160,000 Allied soldiers along the Normandy coast and the beginning of the end of the Nazi occupation of Europe—was still just a whispered plan.
So when Technical Sgt. Edward Niland, 31, the eldest of four brothers from upstate New York who had all enlisted, parachuted out of his B-25 when it was shot down on this day over Burma, his unit assumed he’d been killed.
Then D-Day arrived. On June 6 Edward’s brother Robert (Bob), 25, a technical sergeant of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, sacrificed himself holding off a German advance so that most of his unit could escape. The very next day, 29-year-old Second Lieut. Preston Niland was killed after storming Utah Beach and stopping to aid a wounded soldier.
Back home, in a small town near Buffalo, the Niland family received these three devastating reports in rapid succession.
The War Department, realizing one family had already sacrificed so much, decided the fourth and youngest brother, 24-year-old Frederick (Fritz), a sergeant serving in the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, had to be sent home.
The military’s response was shaped in part by the sacrifice of another family: the five Sullivan brothers from Iowa, who enlisted in the Navy together and were all killed in the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942. After that, the military adopted stricter rules of separating immediate family members—which is how the four Niland brothers ended up in different units. That policy eventually evolved into the Sole Survivor Policy, made official in 1948.
Fun Fact
Father Sampson was known as the Paratrooper Padre, after he parachuted behind enemy lines several times. It later became the title of his memoir.
This plot might sound a bit familiar, but it really happened.
Trusted knowledge for those who want to know more.
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Father Francis Sampson, chaplain of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, was tasked with finding Fritz and getting him to safety. Fritz was first routed to England, and from there, home to New York.
This is the real family story behind Saving Private Ryan. The film takes some liberties for drama’s sake, including inventing a suspenseful mission to find Fritz.
But in this case, reality contains a happier ending than Hollywood: In May 1945 Edward Niland was found alive in a Japanese POW camp. A second son made it home after all.
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11: Oscar nominations for Saving Private Ryan
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2: Purple Hearts awarded to the deceased Niland brothers
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10,300+: Allied casualties from D-Day
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