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War Medal Frustrates Foss Air Trip
by Brian Witte
Associated Press

'They're so nuts about this,' ex-governor says of security

Joe Foss, a former South Dakota governor and war hero, said he was hampered while going through airline security last week - after his Medal of Honor, a commemorative penknife and a dummy bullet on his key chain triggered tight scrutiny.

He said he was "sizzling" by the time he was finally allowed on the plane.

"They gave me a hassle all the way," the 86-year-old said in a telephone interview. "It was just like I was trying to carry some oddball piece of metal or something that would do something."

Foss said he has had a pacemaker for 20 years and had to be patted down because he couldn't walk through a metal detector. He said the medal attracted the security crew's attention after his jacket was sent through an X-ray machine.

Foss, who flew out of Phoenix on his way to a National Rifle Association meeting in Arlington, Va., said he eventually was allowed to bring the medal on the plane, but he had to check the penknife and the bullet, which has a hole in it and is harmless.

"They acted like I shouldn't be carrying it," Foss, 86, said, referring to the Medal of Honor. "And they didn't know what it was. It was just a piece of metal to them."

Foss, a former Marine Corps pilot who was awarded the medal by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943 after Foss shot down 26 enemy planes during World War II, said he brought it to show at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He plans to speak there next week.

Notable and ordinary passengers alike have been getting much greater scrutiny at airports since the terrorism attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Congressman John Dingell is one of the latest examples. Dingell, who has a steel hip joint, knee brace and surgically implanted ankle pins, was asked to drop his pants at Washington's Reagan National Airport.

Foss flew on America West. Patty Nowack, a spokeswoman for the airline, said the security precautions are part of Federal Aviation Administration regulations.

But Foss said he thought the inspections are going too far in the wrong direction.

The former pilot said he thinks his one-way, first-class ticket and western attire made him seem suspicious to the security crew.

At the time, he was wearing a 10-gallon hat and large cowboy boots made out of ostrich.

To get on the plane, he had to take the boots off on three separate occasions.

"Evidently, they were looking for me over at the gate because when I came to the gate, they told me to stand in a certain area and wait till we boarded," Foss said.

Despite the thorough searching, Foss said he did not feel any safer on the plane.

"They're so nuts about this thing now," he said. "That whole program needs to go back, call themselves aside and start from square one. It's nutty. Why should you have to go through such a hassle?"

Foss was elected governor of South Dakota in 1954 and 1956. He once lead the NRA and the American Football League. He now lives in Scottsdale, Ariz.