SAM “Uncle Sammy” RING, a Great Man Always
18 JAN 2024, on the Birthday of Sammy
"The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering."
Sam Ring’s life is beyond “story.” He was born on 18 January 1927 at Camp John Hay, an Army post in the Philippines. Even with his birth, the stage was being set.
Pictured above is a photo extracted from an Army Signal Corps Film that Sam had completely forgotten until he saw it 65 years later. Seated center is Sam's Dad, Walter Ring, who taught Sammy to ride horses and became a trophy-winning horseman. In 1943, at age 17, Sam joined the Army.
On his 18th birthday, Sam was wounded with shrapnel he carried in his body throughout his life and a Japanese machine-gun bullet in his thumb. Just 9 days later, Sam was in The Great Raid at Cabanatuan which rescued over 500 POWs. He would not meet these Men until 65 years later. Ironically, they lived just minutes away.
You recently read my reactions to the “USS INDIANAPOLIS” Movie, and it’s more than upsetting disregard for History. On the 75th Anniversary of the 9 April 1942 Surrender at Bataan, I watched the Director’s Cut version of THE GREAT RAID. I was blessed to have seen this movie with my “Uncle Sammy” in the theater. Wrapt and reliving it, he leaned over only 2 times during the film.
During the film, when the 6th Army Rangers were crawling over grassy flats, he said, “We were actually crawling over dirt dikes.” When the plane flew over the camp, Sammy recalled with a crisp, vivid memory that it was a P-61 Black Widow and not the plane used in the film. Imagine such detail!
Sammy’s great memory aside, and given what we know about current-day Hollywood, the film’s director, John Dahl, should be given the greatest appreciation for telling the story in such a way that a 6th Army Ranger who was there would only comment about the plane!? Thank you, John Dahl, for making this film. The many Men we were blessed and honored to know, Men who were in those camps, will also attest to the realism you documented in such a meaningful way.
Yes, this just 18, scrawny, and recently wounded kid was a part of The Great Raid. But not even the film could portray the impossible odds of Sam Ring rescuing his own Father.
Walter Ring was captured by the Japanese years earlier. He was on the Bataan Death March. Walt was assumed dead. When someone called, “Sargent Ring, Sargent Ring!” Sam turned to find out that the liberated POW was calling his bunk-mate, Sargent WALTER Ring. Sam stumbled upon his Dad… by "accident"… as he was visiting the field hospital before being shipped out to the front lines again.
After the WWII, Sammy served as a guard at the Nuremberg War Trials. One day he spotted 2 children playing with a grenade left over from the war. He got to the children and saved them, but the grenade went off and hit him in the face. After recovering, he then served multiple tours of duty in Korea and Vietnam.
During his time as an Army Ranger, he received the Bronze Star twice, the Meritorious Service Medal, and the Army Commendation Medal. I joked often, “Sammy... you just haven’t done enough for your country!”
He would laugh! His gutsy laugh was like his Soul... hearty, strong, and so alive. When I didn't call him "Uncle Sammy," I referred to him as “Superman.” His stories and those of his wife, Edith are incredible, what all of us would consider impossible and the stuff of improbable novels.
“Great”, a word like “epic” is often misused to the point of evisceration. But Sam Ring was, and will always remain, a Great Man.
Always. Godspeed! S