How Did We Miss The Funeral of Joe Foss?

I was filling in for Martha Zoller the other day, and one of the things that I honestly miss about not being on a live talk radio show is the prodding one gets from listeners about subjects THEY want to hear about. I am convinced that those of us who claim to be reporters-of-news have a habit of thinking we know what people are interested in, when in fact we are totally out of touch with them. Anyway ... one of our callers startled me when he said: "I just heard Joe Foss has died, and if he did I sure didn't see it anywhere. Did he die?" And I had to say I didn't know, but I hadn't seen anything about it, either.

For those of us who came through World War II, Joe Foss was something special. He had joined the Marine Corps Reserve in 1940 as an aviation cadet, and early in the war had landed at Guadalcanal. The news was not good for America. We not only had suffered Pearl harbor but were getting pushed around pretty badly. Then came Joe Foss. He first flew his stubby little F-4F Wildcat against the Japanese in October of 1942, and by the end of January 1943 he had shot down 26 Japanese planes. He was the first World War II pilot to meet the record of World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker. America needed some good news ... we needed a hero ... and Joe Foss was it. He won the Distinguished Flying Cross and a number of other medals, and after he had been shot down, and lived through it, President Roosevelt brought Foss back to the United States in May of 1943 and pinned a Medal of Honor on him. He was a relatively quiet guy, a true hero, the kind of a person everybody felt good about when he was chosen for a cover on Life Magazine.

He was an outspoken conservative, and after the war Joe Foss went back to his native South Dakota, and was elected Governor. He also headed the state's Air National Guard. After that he was named commissioner of the old American Football League. He hosted an ABC television program in the mid-1960's called "The American Sportsman" and from 1988 till 1990 Joe Foss served as president of the National Rifle Association.

I agree with the person who called WDUN the other day. The death of Joe Foss was major news that deserved at least a mention on the 6-o'clock news.

This is Gordon Sawyer from a window on. historic Green Street