Name: Robert Carol SAMS
Rank / Rating: STM2-Steward's Mate Second Class
Service #: 609 95 15
DOB: 1927
From: Harford Mills, NY
Parents: Jack F. Sams and Florence Moore Sams
Went Aboard: Mar 09, 1945
Age When Ship Went Down: 18
Spouse: Mary Andrews Scott
Children: Bobbie Faye Scott
Grandchildren:
Bio Submitted By: Jane Gwinn Goodall
Date Posted:

Steward’s Mate Second Class Robert Carrol Sams was from Harford Mills, New York. Harford Mills is a hamlet located in Cortland County, New York. We were unable to locate a draft card or birth certificate for Robert. However, from the 1940 Census Report and Family Tree information at Ancestry.com, we know that Robert was the third oldest of twelve children born to Jack F. Sams (a laborer) and his wife Florence Moore Sams. We estimate by the Census that Robert was born in 1927. He had eight brothers, including George Leroy (1924-1986), Donald M (1925-1972), Ernest Beverly (1928-1987), Jack Vivian Jr. (1930-2001), Gerald W. (1931-1995), Joseph Edward (1932-1975), Lloyd (1938-?), Thomas N. (1939-1994), and one sister, Bernice D. (1935-1962) at the time of the 1940 U.S. Census. His uncle, John R. Moore, and maternal grandparents, John W. and Bernice Moore, also lived with them. His older brother, Donald Moore Sams served in the U.S. Navy, which may have influenced Robert’s choice of service branch. Robert Sams’s mother lived to be 96 years old. It appears that she had a total of 13 children, three of which were born after the 1940 Census and never met their brother Robert. We found a death notice for Mrs. Sams in the Ithaca Journal, dated 13 January 2001.

Robert C. Sams was received aboard USS Indianapolis on 9 Mar 1945, joining the crew after the Iwo Jima Operation. His orders came from the Transfer and Distribution Center at Camp Elliott, San Diego, California. Robert C. Sams had previously served on USS Gillespie DD-609 with fellow shipmate, Punciano A. Holden, a Filipino Steward, before being transferred to the Forward Area and USS Indianapolis. On 8 February 1945 he was transferred off the USS Gillespie to USS Admiral Coontz (AP-122) before being sent to Indy in early March. Just eight days after coming aboard ship, he was part of the battle action during the Okinawa-Gunto Operation (17 to 25 March 1945). A week later, during the Battle for Okinawa, the ship suffered the Kamikaze attack. Robert Sams’s life was lost when the ship was torpedoed and sunk by Japanese Submarine I-58 shortly after midnight on 30 July 1945. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Sams, Harford Mills, New York, were notified of his death.