GOD BLESS YOU JOE.
Posted on 01/01/2003 4:40:46 PM PST by Cagey
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Joe Foss, a former South Dakota governor and World War II hero who shot down 26 enemy planes, died Wednesday. He was 87.
Foss had not regained consciousness after he suffered an apparent aneurysm last fall. He died at a hospital in Arizona, said South Dakota Gov. Bill Janklow.
A Republican, Foss served in the state Legislature for five years before becoming governor in 1955. He won the Congressional Medal of Honor as a Marine pilot during World War II. He also earned the Distinguished Flying Cross.
"I always had the attitude that every day will be a great day," Foss said in a 1987 interview. "I look forward to it like a kid in a candy store, wherever I am."
Foss was born April 17, 1915, on a farm east of Sioux Falls. He once said his love of flying dated back to his childhood when he watched pilots fly over his family's home and wave to him from the cockpit.
"I thought, 'Someday I'm gonna trade these horses for an airplane,'" he said.
He was among the most prominent World War II heroes, shooting down 26 enemy planes. He also served as a colonel in the Air Force in the Korean War.
Foss was the first commissioner of the American Football League. He also hosted the television show "The American Sportsman" on ABC and was chosen president of the National Rifle Association in 1988, serving through 1990.
GOD BLESS YOU JOE.
FOSS, JOSEPH JACOB
Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Marine Fighting Squadron 121, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing. Place and date: Over Guadalcanal, 9 October to 19 November 1942, 15 and 23 January 1943. Entered service at: South Dakota. Born: 17 April 1 915, Sioux Falls, S. Dak. Citation: For outstanding heroism and courage above and beyond the call of duty as executive officer of Marine Fighting Squadron 121, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, at Guadalcanal. Engaging in almost daily combat with the enemy from 9 October to 19 November 1942, Capt. Foss personally shot down 23 Japanese planes and damaged others so severely that their destruction was extremely probable. In addition, during this period, he successfully led a large number of escort missions, skillfully covering reconnaissance, bombing, and photographic planes as well as surface craft. On 15 January 1943, he added 3 more enemy planes to his already brilliant successes for a record of aerial combat achievement unsurpassed in this war. Boldly searching out an approaching enemy force on 25 January, Capt. Foss led his 8 F-4F Marine planes and 4 Army P-38's into action and, undaunted by tremendously superior numbers, intercepted and struck with such force that 4 Japanese fighters were shot down and the bombers were turned back without releasing a single bomb. His remarkable flying skill, inspiring leadership, and indomitable fighting spirit were distinctive factors in the defense of strategic American positions on Guadalcanal.
I don't know where you found this bio, but the AFL-NFL merger agreement wasn't hammered out until after Joe Willie Namath led the New York Jets to victory over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III in 1969.
I'm not surprised one bit. I doubt there are more than a handful of airport screeners who have ever opened a history book.
On June 8, 1966, two months after Davis became the AFL commissioner, a merger agreement was announced. There would be a common draft starting in 1967, interleague preseason games starting in '67 and regular-season play combining the leagues in 1970. Territorial indemnification of $18 million was to be paid to the 49ers and Giants over a 20-year period.
Sorry, but you are mistaken. The merger occurred in 1966 and the first Super Bowl (1967) was between the Green Bay Packers and the, I think, Oakland Raiders. The 1969 Super Bowl with Namath was the third. You are thinking about when they changed the names from AFL and NFL to simply the NFL.
That was Douglas Bader, "The Legless Wonder"
Shortly after 911, Joe Foss was held up from boarding a plane, by security personnel who couldn't understand what certain metal keepsakes were, and insisted that he either surrender them or forgo the flight. Foss stood tough, and kept the metal objects, one of which was "a curious little metal cross." The brilliant Las Vegas Review-Journal writer, Vin Suprynowicz, devoted one of his columns to the incident in question.
Que quire decir?
Sorry, but you are mistaken. The merger occurred in 1966 and the first Super Bowl (1967) was between the Green Bay Packers and the, I think, Oakland Raiders. The 1969 Super Bowl with Namath was the third. You are thinking about when they changed the names from AFL and NFL to simply the NFL.
Maybe you want to clean the egg off your face, and ask the Admin. Moderator if you can get your posts deleted.
There was no merger until 1969. The name changes are inseparable from the merger. The first three Super Bowls pitted teams from DIFFERENT LEAGUES. With the merger, the old NFL became the NFC, and the AFL became the AFC. However, since there were more old NFL than AFL teams (there were only ten AFL teams), three of the old NFL teams joined the AFC: the Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Baltimore Colts.
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