|
Joe Foss - World War II Hero
 FILE *** This is a 1943 file photo showing Joe Foss standing forth from left with member of Joe's Flying Ciricus. Foss, a World War II hero who shot down 26 enemy planes as a Marine pilot and later became governor of South Dakota, died Wednesday. He was 87. Foss led a Marine air unit known as Joe's Flying Circus that shot down 72 Japanese planes. He downed 26 planes himself, tying the U.S. aerial record Eddie Rickenbacker set in World War I. Foss became a well-known war hero; a 1943 Life magazine coverproclaimed him ``America's No. 1 Ace.  FILE *** This is a 1944 file photo showing Joe Foss while recuperating from a tropical illness at the Klamath Falls rehabilitation Center in Oregon. Foss, a World War II hero who shot down 26 enemy planes as a Marine pilot and later became governor of South Dakota, died Wednesday. He was 87. Foss _ who also served as president of the National Rifle Association, commissioner of the American Football League and a TV outdoorsman _ had not regained consciousness after suffering an apparent aneurysm last fall. He died at a hospital in Arizona, said South Dakota Gov. Bill Janklow. (AP Photo) 
|
