 OWAA Legends
Day of Infamy Launched Joe Foss Into Fame
Note: This piece first appeared in The Journal News (New York) Dec. 11,
2002, before the death of Joe Foss (see the February 2003 OU, page 8).
By Glenn Sapir
Joe Foss, 87, retired U.S. Marine major, was hospitalized recently with an
apparent aneurism. Listed in critical condition, this American hero is not
looking into the eyes of death for the first time.
Once asked by a friend whom the most impressive person I’d met in my outdoor
writing career had been, with little hesitation I was able to answer, “Joe
Foss.” His resume is impressive. He was an accomplished ace of World War II, a
Congressional Medal of Honor winner, state legislator, then governor, first
commissioner of the American Football League, host of “The American Sportsman”
and “The Outdoorsman: Joe Foss” television series, president of the National
Rifle Association and public affairs director for KLM Airlines.
Although the nation’s youngest generation may not even recognize Foss’ name, all
Americans should take pride in his achievements. Sportsmen especially will
appreciate his contributions.
Dec. 7, 1941, when the Japanese launched a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, set the
stage for Foss to achieve the many honors that ensued. With the recent
observance of the 61st anniversary of the “Day of Infamy,” while Foss remains in
a coma, his accomplishments are worthy of review.
Foss grew up on a farm in Sioux Falls, S.D., and like most rural boys of the
1920s and ’30s, he hunted and fished as often as he could, and he regularly
tended his trap line. He would pheasant hunt after school for recreation and to
help feed his family. It was the shooting skills learned in his youth that
helped prepare him for his achievements when World War II broke out.
“Marksmanship is important in war, and good shooting isn’t learned overnight,”
Foss wrote in his autobiography, Joe Foss, Flying Marine. “Nearly all of our
successful pilots have been boys who loved hunting as far back as they can
remember.”
Foss worked his way through college, and even earned $65 to pay for private
flying lessons then. He completed a civilian pilot program in his senior year,
then enlisted as an aviation cadet in the Marines after he graduated in 1940.
Though he had been assigned other duties, when the Japanese invasion occurred,
Foss insisted on fighter-pilot duty. In the summer of 1942 he was sent to the
South Pacific. On October 13 and 14, his first two days of combat, Foss downed
two Japanese fighter planes. On October 18, he shot down three more Japanese
fighter planes, and then coming upon American planes under attack, he flew among
a convoy of enemy bombers and downed one of them.
By October 25 he was completing an amazing streak of successes by downing five
more enemy planes, marking a total of 14 enemy planes destroyed in 13 days.
On November 7, Foss’s plane was shot down, and he was forced to make a crash
landing in shark-infested waters. He survived to return to combat. In fact, on
November 12, during the bloody battle for Guadalcanal, Foss, getting as close as
100 yards to one of his targets, shot down an enemy Zero and two bombers.
Malaria was his next serious enemy, but he overcame that to return to combat on
January 15, when he shot down three more planes. That brought the number of
enemy aircraft he destroyed in a memorable 63 days to 26, equaling famed World
War I pilot Eddie Rickenbacker’s total.
Soon thereafter he returned to the U.S. to go on tour, boost morale at home,
sell War Bonds and fully recover from malaria. In May 1943, President Roosevelt
presented Foss with the Congressional Medal of Honor.
The character he showed in the war and the fame he earned in combat catapulted
him into the political, media and public relations arenas. As president of the
NRA, he fought for gun owners’ and hunters’ rights. As host of national
sportsmen’s television shows, he presented and represented the best of the
outdoor sports.
In 1973 an invitation to the publisher of Field & Stream magazine filtered its
way down to a young editor at that publication. It was a ticket to the Joe Foss
Pheasant Hunt, a weekend affair of hunting, dining and camaraderie in South
Dakota. It put me in a hunting group with Foss and one of his wartime
colleagues, General Jimmy Doolittle, whose accomplishments included leading the
successful bombing of Tokyo.
Foss made sure that at least once a year he would return to his native farmlands
to hunt pheasants and share times afield with friends old and new. The event
reminded him of days long ago and the bounty with which hunting rewarded him.
Hunting is part of the fabric of this hero’s composition, and his contributions
have become an important part of America’s heritage.
Glenn Sapir, from Putnam Valley, N.Y., is an OWAA past president and life
member.
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