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thedrifter
01-01-03, 10:29 PM
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20030101/capt.1041464337.obit_foss_wxs122.jpg

Joe Foss, American Football League commissioner, poses in New York City Jan. 29, 1964, following his announcement that the AFL and NBC had signed a five-year contract for television of AFL games for a total of $36 million. Foss, 87, a former South Dakota governor and a war hero, died Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 1, 2003, at a hospital in Arizona, South Dakota Gov. Bill Janklow said. (AP Photo/Jack Harris)


By DORIS HAUGEN, Associated Press Writer

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Joe Foss, a World War II hero who shot down 26 enemy planes as a Marine pilot and later became governor of South Dakota, died Wednesday. He was 87.


Foss — who also served as president of the National Rifle Association, commissioner of the American Football League and a TV outdoorsman — had not regained consciousness after suffering an apparent aneurysm last fall. He died at a hospital in Arizona, said South Dakota Gov. Bill Janklow.


Foss navigated his many careers with energy and optimism.


"I always had the attitude that every day will be a great day," he said in a 1987 interview. "I look forward to it like a kid in a candy store, wherever I am."


Foss led a Marine air unit known as Joe's Flying Circus that shot down 72 Japanese planes. He downed 26 planes himself, tying the U.S. aerial record Eddie Rickenbacker set in World War I.


Foss became a well-known war hero; a 1943 Life magazine cover proclaimed him "America's No. 1 Ace."


Foss "spurred an entire nation into a resolve that we would win the second World War and make the world a safer place," Janklow said. "All the things that he accomplished pale in comparison to the fact that back in the deep dark days of the early '40s when America needed a hero, Joe Foss was there."


Foss was featured prominently in Tom Brokaw's book "The Greatest Generation."


"He had a hero's swagger but a winning smile to go with his plain talk and movie-star looks," Brokaw wrote. "Joe Foss was larger than life, and his heroics in the skies over the Pacific were just the beginning of a journey that would take him to places far from that farm with no electricity and not much hope north of Sioux Falls."


Foss, who also served as a colonel in the Air Force in the Korean War, was awarded the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star, Silver Star and Purple Heart. In 1984, he was enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio.


Born April 17, 1915, on a farm east of Sioux Falls, Foss said he loved flying since he was a child, when pilots waved to him as they flew over his family's home.


"I thought, `Someday I'm gonna trade these horses for an airplane,'" he said.


After the war, Foss, a Republican, served in the state Legislature for five years before becoming governor from 1955 to 1959.


He then became the first commissioner of the American Football League, which began play in 1960 to challenge the established National Football League. Foss held the post until 1966, and the leagues merged in 1970.


He also hosted two television sportsmen's shows, "The American Sportsman" and "The Outdoorsman: Joe Foss" and was president of the National Rifle Association from 1988 to 1990.


"I'll keep working until the day I die," Foss said. "I can't imagine sitting down and saying this is the end of the trail."


Foss was visiting Beaverton, Mich., last fall when he became sick. He had planned to give a speech in support of his great-nephew, who had applied to attend the U.S. Military Academy.


He was later moved from a hospital in Michigan to Scottsdale, Ariz., where he and his wife lived.

Sempers,

Roger



THE FINAL INSPECTION

The Marine stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass.
He hoped his shoes wew shining
Just as brightly as his brass.
"Step forward now, you Marine,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other check?
To My Church have you been true?"
The Marine squared his shoulders said,
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't,
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint.
I've had to work most Sundays
And at times, my talk was tough,
And sometimes I"ve been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny,
That wasn't mine to keep...
Through, I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
And I never passed a cry for help,
Though, at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here,
They never wanted around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here, Lord,
It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Marine waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God,
"Step forward now, you Marine,
You've borne your burdens well,
Walk peacefully on Heaven's street,
You've done your time in Hell."

TO ALL THAT SERVE,
SEMPER FIDELIS


AND WHEN HE GOES TO HEAVEN.......

TO ST. PETER HE WILL TELL, ........

ONE MORE SOLIDER REPORTING SIR....

I SERVED MY TIME IN HELL......


http://www.acepilots.com/usmc_foss.html

MillRatUSMC
01-01-03, 10:53 PM
http://www.acepilots.com/J_Foss.gif

Click on the link to see some history on Capt. Joe Foss USMC in WWII

http://www.acepilots.com/usmc_foss.html

Semper Fidelis and May Marine Joe Foss Rest In Peace
Ricardo

greensideout
01-02-03, 10:42 PM
I had the honor of meeting him in Viet Nam in 1962.

I was serving with his brother there at the time, whom he had come to see and to observe the current operations there.

A true hero and an american icon.

May his legacy set the path for those that follow him in the Corps.
With his passing, another hero will be born.

God bless Joe Foss.