Posted on 04/23/2008 1:26:23 PM PDT by Incorrigible
![]() D. Brock Foster holds a few of his military decorations, soon to be joined by three long-overdue ones. (Photo by Tracy Boulian) |
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In public, yet. From a U.S. senator. In front of a color guard, a crowd and those gloating daughters, who tracked down a missing ribbon and two missing crosses.
"Seems like a whole lot of nothing,'' says D. Brock Foster, 86, a retired major from the Special Forces.
Last summer, while packing up the folks' North Olmsted house to move them to a retirement home in Westlake, Darlene Nelson and Dee Foster found a letter from 1968 that promised their dad a Distinguished Flying Cross for "outstanding heroism and selfless devotion to duty.'' But they couldn't find the cross.
It turned out it was never delivered, and modest dad had never tried to find it.
So, the daughters got him to sign a request form without telling him what it was for. And they contacted Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown's office for help.
They ended up getting not just the Flying Cross but two other missing decorations: a Philippine Defense Ribbon and a Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm. On April 28, at North Olmsted City Hall, Brown plans to deliver the new decorations and new copies of several old ones.
"I don't think it's necessary,'' says Foster, who earned 16 decorations overall.
"I believe in awards,'' he added, but not for "routine work.''
He thinks he was just doing his job when he helped rescue a downed pilot near the Ho Chi Min Trail in Vietnam in 1968. He says he spent an hour piloting his prop plane overhead, dodging fire, returning it and clearing the way for a helicopter to land.
What he doesn't say, but the military record shows, is that fierce artillery destroyed two other planes during the mission. Also that Foster had volunteered for Special Forces, for Vietnam, for the rescue and for other risky missions.
Foster thinks his career was more lucky than brave. His planes often were riddled, but his skin was never scratched.
"I shot a lot of ammunition. I've been shot at. But I was never shot down,'' he says.
Foster, who was born in Iowa, enlisted in World War II in 1942, at age 20 as soon as his parents let him. He spent nearly all the next 26 years in the Air Force.
He saw combat in the Pacific, spent the Korean War stateside and returned to more fire in Vietnam. By then, comrades were calling him Grandpa.
He retired in 1968. He spent the next few decades taking care of older relatives and his wife, Marjorie. Now a great-grandpa, he needs care himself, for arthritis, high blood pressure and other ills.
"Perfect health,'' he clucks.
Bracing for the ceremony, he sighs and says with a chuckle, "I'll have to act kind of nice.''
(Grant Segall is a reporter for The Plain Dealer of Cleveland. He can be contacted at gsegall(at)plaind.com.)
Not for commercial use. For educational and discussion purposes only.
"I believe in awards,'' he added, but not for "routine work.''
My father would have said the same thing.
He died peacefully last month just before his 84th birthday. Only occasionally did he talk about the naval battles he was in during WWII in the South Pacific.
Here’s a riddle:
What’s the difference between D. Brock Foster and John Kerry?
The headline to this article seems to suggest John Kerry’s symbolic ‘throwing away’ his purple hearts. I’m sure that is not what this Vet intended to imply, but rather the editor’s choice of words.
How does a USAF officer volunteer for Special Forces?
Are you guys really expecting accuracy from a journalist and headline writer??
Just sit back and enjoy a good story!
When it is reported by a lame-brained newspaper reporter.
He refused to drive on the freeways, always taking the surface streets. The freeway traffic made him nervous. I don't know; maybe he figured he'd already used up all his spare lives.
He goes to his CO, asks for a transfer to another branch of service, and etc. etc.
One of them I would walk across the street to shake his hand the other I would not. You guess which.
He died peacefully last month just before his 84th birthday. Only occasionally did he talk about the naval battles he was in during WWII in the South Pacific.
My sincere condolences. My own father who passed away nine years ago rarely if ever spoke of his time as a "guest" of His Majesty's Imperial Army in a POW camp from 1942-1945.
When he died in Jan, I went through his stuff. His army medals, papers, and photos` were in a cigar box and big envelope.
The most revealing part of this guy's story is "doing routine stuff." They thought it was their duty and you just did what you needed to do.
I told my dad I would take him to 50th anniversary of D-Day and we would visit the places he had been, starting in England. He said no, once was enough.
I would salute D. Brock Foster's tombstone.
I would piss on John Kerry's.
You, too, have my condolences and my sincere thanks for your father’s sacrifices for our freedom.
I'd say you're being too generous to Mr. Kerry.
Thanx. We buried my dad at the Veterans Cemetery in Riverside, CA. It was a Monday in June. There were eight other ceremonies at about the same time. They will all be gone soon.
My dad would tell us “tame” stories as kids about his days in the Army during WWII. It wasn’t until the 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbor that he finally told us the “good” ones.
He was never in good enough shape for any of his battalion reunions but even in his last days he could sing the battle song for that battalion.
He’s been gone now 6 years.
They are leaving us all too quickly. Best wishes!
“They are leaving us all too quickly.”
Yep, as are the Korean and Vietnam vets.
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