Joe Foss was born in rural South Dakota on April 17, 1915. He grew up in a farmhouse that had no electricity. At age 12, he met Charles Lindbergh on his tour with the Spirit of St. Louis. At age 16, he paid $1.50 for his first plane ride and he was hooked on aviation. He attended South Dakota State and was on the boxing, track, and football teams. He enlisted in the National Guard in 1939. He was in the artillery. In 1940, he got his pilot’s license and then joined the Marine Corps Reserve. He became a pilot, but he was considered too old at 27 to be a fighter pilot. He was put in photo reconnaissance. He begged to be transferred and finally got his wish. In October, 1942, his squadron was sent to Guadalcanal. He was the executive officer. He was stationed at Henderson Field. He was part of the famous Cactus Air Force. This was when the battle was raging and the field was targeted for air and naval bombing almost every day. On his first combat mission in his F4F Wildcat, he shot down a Zero. His plane got shot up so bad, he had to make a crash landing. This started a remarkable string of victories. He flew virtually every day leading a flight of eight fighters the press dubbed “Foss’ Flying Circus”. From Oct. 9 to 19 November, he shot down 23 Japanese planes. He then was pulled out of combat for six weeks due to malaria. When he returned, he added 3 kills on Jan. 15 to equal Eddie Rickenbacker’s 26 victories in WWI. He was the first to do it and became famous. On Jan. 23, he led an attack on a Japanese bomber force escorted by fighters. Although outnumbered, the Americans prevented the dropping of a single bomb. Foss was pulled out of combat after this and on May 18, 1943, FDR awarded him the Medal of Honor. He was returned to combat in Feb., 1944 as the leader of a squadron. But in eight months, he did not get the opportunity to add to his score. He did get to fly some missions with his idol Charles Lindbergh. After eight months, he contracted malaria again and his war was over. He finished the war as the Marine Corps’ Ace of Aces. He was one of the greatest American aces in the war because at Guadalcanal he faced some of the best Japanese aces flying the famous Zero. Foss’ Wildcat was an inferior plane in dogfights and yet in a short period of time he racked up an incredible total.
https://acepilots.com/usmc_foss.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Foss
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/joseph-j-foss-medal-honor
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