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Dvan
10-04-03, 10:02 PM
Perhaps you've all read this already. It was written by Bob Greene, a syndicated columnist from Chicago. It was published in Feb. 2003.

"They just kept passing it around there were eight or nine or ten of them who handled it before it was over," he said.
"They had found it in my pocket at the airport, and they thought it was suspicious. It's shaped like a star, and they were looking at the metal edges of it, like it was a weapon. I asked for it back, but they kept handing it to each other and inspecting it. I was told to move to a separate area.

"I told them -- just turn it over. The engraving on the back explains everything. But they thought they must have something potentially dangerous here.

"I told them exactly what it was -- I said, 'That's my Congressional Medal of Honor.´"

The man relating that story is retired Gen. Joe Foss, 86. His experience last month in Arizona at the international airport in Phoenix -- may be the ultimate symbol of the out-of-kilter times we are going through. We are so afraid of terrorists in our midst that what happened to Foss is not only believable, but perhaps even inevitable:

The Congressional Medal of Honor will be taken from its recipient because it looks vaguely ominous.

I spoke with Foss because I wanted to hear it from him directly. He told me that he holds no animosity about the incident -- "I'm just as interested in defeating the terrorists as anyone is, I promise you that" and that he is mostly sad that no one knew what the Medal of Honor was.

Foss was awarded the medal by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II after shooting down 26 enemy planes as a Marine fighter pilot in solo combat in the Pacific. He grew up in South Dakota -- after the war he would become governor of that state -- and took flying lessons as a young man, then went to war.

He lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., and when he travels he is patted down in airports instead of going through the metal detectors, because of a heart pacemaker. At the airport in Phoenix, he said, he was being searched manually and he put his jacket through the X-ray machine. A couple of things caught the attention of the screeners -- rightly so.

Foss has a key chain made out of a dummy bullet, with a hole drilled through it to make it evident it is harmless; he also carries a small knife/file with the Medal of Honor Society's insignia on it. The screeners took both of them from Foss -- traveling during these nervous days with items that look like bullets, or with even a small knife, will, and should, invite scrutiny. Even if you're 86. Even if you're a war hero.

That's not what frustrated him. The screeners, he said, allowed him to mail the key chain and the little knife back to his home from the airport. But for 45 minutes, he estimated, he was passed from person to person, made to remove his boots and tie and belt and hat three different times, and prevented from boarding his flight (he was eventually allowed on) because the security personnel, he said, had misgivings about his Medal of Honor.

(America West Airlines, in whose terminal in Phoenix the incident allegedly took place, said through a spokeswoman shortly after the misunderstanding that the airline's objective is to ensure safety and security for all passengers and employees.)

"I want you to know," Foss told me, "that I don't go around wearing my Medal of Honor, or carrying it with me. The only reason I had it with me on this flight was that I was supposed to give a speech to a class at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and I thought the medal was something the cadets might be interested in seeing."

I asked him what he remembered about being presented the Congressional Medal of Honor. "I was right fresh out of combat when I was called to the White House," he said. "FDR was behind his desk, and he pinned the medal on my uniform. He said it was for actions above and beyond the call of duty.

"I was nervous, being in the presence of the president. I think I may have been more nervous there than I was in combat. My wife and mother were with me -- it was quite a day. I think President Roosevelt called me 'young feller.'"

After the White House ceremony, Foss had his photograph taken with the medal -- the nation's highest military honor for valor in action -- on his uniform. That photo was the full front cover of Life magazine, the issue of June 7, 1943; the cover caption was: "Captain Foss, U.S.M.C. America's No. 1 Ace."

And now, almost 60 years later, the Medal of Honor was being handed from one skeptical security screener to another in the Phoenix airport, while Foss, at 86, took his boots and belt off as ordered.

"I wasn't upset for me," he said. "I was upset for the Medal of Honor, that they just didn't know what it even was. It represents all of the guys who lost their lives -- the guys who never came back. Everyone who put their lives on the line for their country. You're supposed to know what the Medal of Honor is."

thedrifter
10-04-03, 10:12 PM
Dvan


Welcome Aboard to the Best Marine Site on the net. Also welcome to your home away from home................
We have a great crew of Marines in here from WW II to the present............
Throw your sea bag in a corner, pull up a footlocker, sit and chat awhile.........Get a chance stop over at the Slope Chute, Gary and I will buy you a few drinks........


"AGAIN WELCOME ABOARD."

Sempers,

Roger

CAS3
10-05-03, 12:51 AM
DVAN better get that profile taken care of...using SGT stripes and saying you aren't a Marine are a bit contradictory.

About the story, how many employees were not American born?
I am sure that any 18 yr old punk could work at an airport and what do they know about the Congressional Medal Of Honor. Makes me ill to think these people are the future of America.

lurchenstein
10-05-03, 03:23 PM
I am sure that any 18 yr old punk could work at an airport and what do they know about the Congressional Medal Of Honor. Makes me ill to think these people are the future of America.

I'd venture to say there were probably older adults (20's and above) in that airport security department that are clueless about the Medal of Honor (hope that was remedied by this incident).
I'll bet we'd be awed by statistics of how many American citizens don't know about the Medal of Honor.

yellowwing
10-05-03, 03:35 PM
Three years of national conscription would handle that. I met a German conscientious objector once that spent his service time as a cook for an orphanage. Our beloved Liberal leaders couldn't argue with that.

ivalis
10-05-03, 08:28 PM
Joe Foss died 1/1/03. The story was written in Feb '03. I'm kinda confused.

MAJMike
10-05-03, 11:11 PM
It's not the "CONGRESSIONAL Medal of Honor" - it's the "Medal of Honor." Congress has nothing to do with it. It has been erroneously refrerred to as "Congressional" for ever, but that is incorrect.

lurchenstein
10-06-03, 02:09 AM
Joe Foss died 1/1/03. The story was written in Feb '03. I'm kinda confused.

According to the original post, this story was published (as put in print for readers) in Feb. 2003, but it may been written several months before. There's no clear connection to the author's time frame ("last month"). Hope this clears the waters some.

Dvan
10-06-03, 05:50 PM
DVAN better get that profile taken care of...using SGT stripes and saying you aren't a Marine are a bit contradictory.


I am new to this whole process and so when I filled in the questionnaire I thought it was asking me if I was an active duty Marine. I served from '81-87, if you look for me in the 'What Unit's Did You Serve In' thread, I have recorded my service.

greensideout
10-06-03, 06:14 PM
I had trouble with the question too Dvan.

Are you a Marine? Well, uh, I, uh --- so then I thought, uh, yes I was, er, I mean, YES I AM.

(I think it's a trick question put in there by the drifter. LOL)

WELCOME ON BOARD MARINE!

thedrifter
10-06-03, 06:23 PM
GSO

I had nothing to do with that part.......LOL....

How the saying goes.....

Once A Marine......Always A Marine...........

Sempers,

Roger

ivalis
10-06-03, 06:30 PM
Major Mike, The medal was authorized by an act of congress, ergo, "Congressional Medal of Honor".