Dr. Sam volunteered for service in WWII. Recruiters told him he didn't have to go because he had a physical abnormality (flat feet!), but he insisted on going. He served in Patton's 6th Armored Division, 15th Tank Battalion, and as a physician in M.A.S.H. units, he treated many wounded soldiers from the front lines around Europe.
Dr. Sam received a Purple Heart and two Bronze Stars after his jeep was blown up over a land mine east of Orleans in 1944. In my younger days, I was always puzzled by Daddy's refusal to discuss or display those medals, but as time progressed, I realized that true heroes are most often the quiet ones.
Daddy was quite a story-teller (especially about General Patton), and for many years, his family and friends encouraged him to write a book. Eventually he did write an autobiography that was published in 1978, just a few weeks before his death in an automobile accident. He spoke and wrote about wanting his children to be able to know him on a level that he never really knew his own father, and that was his purpose for writing the book. Just prior to his death, he presented each of his twelve living children with an autographed copy of his autobiography, and we've each referred repeatedly to his written words during those times when we've wondered, "What would Daddy do?".
Mary Pat Ellis Daviet
Greeley, Colorado
4th daughter, 6th child of Samuel T. Ellis, Jr.
[email protected]
Dr. Sam volunteered for service in WWII. Recruiters told him he didn't have to go because he had a physical abnormality (flat feet!), but he insisted on going. He served in Patton's 6th Armored Division, 15th Tank Battalion, and as a physician in M.A.S.H. units, he treated many wounded soldiers from the front lines around Europe.
Dr. Sam received a Purple Heart and two Bronze Stars after his jeep was blown up over a land mine east of Orleans in 1944. In my younger days, I was always puzzled by Daddy's refusal to discuss or display those medals, but as time progressed, I realized that true heroes are most often the quiet ones.
Daddy was quite a story-teller (especially about General Patton), and for many years, his family and friends encouraged him to write a book. Eventually he did write an autobiography that was published in 1978, just a few weeks before his death in an automobile accident. He spoke and wrote about wanting his children to be able to know him on a level that he never really knew his own father, and that was his purpose for writing the book. Just prior to his death, he presented each of his twelve living children with an autographed copy of his autobiography, and we've each referred repeatedly to his written words during those times when we've wondered, "What would Daddy do?".
Mary Pat Ellis Daviet
Greeley, Colorado
4th daughter, 6th child of Samuel T. Ellis, Jr.
[email protected]