Descended from Scots Irish pioneers, soldiers and frontier lawmen, he grew up riding horses, hunting, and fishing in the Rio Grand Valley.

The hill overlooked the bridge crossing the river Vire at Pont Hebert-a critical jumping off point for the upcoming breakout operation known as Cobra.

After capturing the hill at great cost, the unit occupied it for four days fighting off repeated counterattacks including strafing runs by Luftwaffe fighter-bombers.

In one move, the German offensive would cut the newly operational Third Army, General George Patton, Commanding, from the allied resupply ports at Omaha Beach.

Cut off from supply, Patton's Third Army, without its daily 25,000 gallons of fuel needed to move, would languish and die at the hands of mobile Kampfgruppe, the enemy equivalent of an armored task force.

For the following five days, Task Force Hogan fought to relieve the US 120th Infantry Regiment encircled in the hilltop redoubt of Mortain as they held off the German advance to Avranches.

The Stars and Stripes reported on this morale quirk and local Frenchmen welcoming their liberators reacted with wide-eyed looks and smiles to Sam's remark that it was “the flag of the free Americans”.

After liberating Liege, they crossed into Germany proper where heavy battles secured the industrial towns around Stolberg, helping isolate Aachen, the first major German city in the allies’ path.

[9] After Aachen, First Army needed to await the massive buildup of supplies and reinforcements necessary to take the bridges on the Rhine and then fight to the next objective- the industrial Ruhr region.

[10] After an all-night march towards the objective, with V-1 flying bombs pulsing overhead on the way to destroy allied supply dumps in Antwerp, they arrived at La Roche with fuel tanks half full and no planned resupply.

Samuel Hogan, his Operations Officer, Major Travis Brown and the Recon Platoon Leader, Lieutenant Clark Worrell escaped into the woods as the enemy looted their disabled jeeps.

But they were short of ammunition, fuel and medical supplies so MG Maurice Rose ordered the task force to destroy their vehicles and make out on foot as best they could.

It was a Christmas miracle that made the news back home including in Cinema reels, local newspaper stories and the Stars and Stripes-the periodical for deployed soldiers.

Many are familiar with Task Force Richardson’s sector which included the cathedral and was made famous in the Combat Camera footage of the Panther versus Pershing duel.

Task Force Hogan provided the flank screen for this operation and Sam was awarded the Bronze Star for his leadership in that historic achievement.

[4] The mission had to continue though, and BG Doyle Hickey assumed command as Spearhead closed the Ruhr pocket linking up with 2nd Armored Division north of Paderborn, effectively destroying the German Army Group B as a fighting force.

This was yet another history making first for Task Force Hogan and the 3rd Armored Division: they were one of a few units to participate in the closure of all three major German pockets in the European Theater: Falaise, Mons and Ruhr resulting in the capture of almost 400,000 enemy prisoners of war.

He then returned to the United States to attend Law School at Columbia University followed by the Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth Kansas.

He attended the US Army War College in Carlisle Barracks, PA. Then reported to the Pentagon, where Colonel Sam Hogan became Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Education.