Aviator's Soapbox

Genuine Hero's War Memorabilia Seized by Screeners

WWII Super-Ace Joe Foss Hassled; MoH Ancillaries Taken by Lunatic Screeners

By Tim Kern

Now-General (ret.) Joe Foss, 86, paid for his own flying lessons partly by waiting tables; at 27, he was considered
"too old" to fly combat; but the second lieutenant finagled 150
hours in Wildcats, and was soon given Pacific Theater duty, where
he ran up 26 kills, equaling Capt Eddie Rickenbacker's WWI
total.

In 1943, Franklin D. Roosevelt awarded him the Congressional Medal of Honor. He nearly had that medal taken from him by some of the jerks who screen passengers at Sky Harbor International, in
Phoenix (AZ), as he tried to board a flight to DC on January
11.
These dimbulbs were giving Foss, a man whose loyalty to the USA is
unquestioned, a hard time, because of their "one level of security"
(lack of) mentality. They didn't know what the Medal of Honor was,
and they wanted to take it, because it might be used as a
weapon!

Just Another Security Outrage

By ANN Columnist-at-Large, Kevin "Hognose" O'Brien

Joe Foss spent the best years of his life fighting against evil, totalitarian regimes. After what happened to him last
week, he might be excused for thinking he lost.

Foss, for those who don’t know him, is a pretty amazing guy. Like a lot of people who were young when Lindbergh flew (he was just 12 at the time), he was inspired to fly by the great
airman and scrounged money for lessons.

He served when his country called, teaching hundreds of young Americans to fly. Then when he was 'over the hill' by fighter standards, he became a top Marine fighter ace (he shot down five
Japanese planes in one day at Guadalcanal, flying an obsolete
Wildcat).

He won many awards, including the Congressional Medal of Honor – the USA’s top military decoration, given to only the bravest of the brave, for acts of near-foolhardy valor (Lindbergh
got one, too).

He was a two-term governor of his home state, South Dakota, and a successful businessman.

He hosted a TV show and headed any number of famous enterprises, charities and non-profits, including the American Football League,
Easter Seals and the National Rifle Association. In other words, he
was a thumping success at a wider range of things than most of us
ever imagine trying.

But Foss thought that he could travel freely in today’s United States, and then he made the mistake of trying to reason
with the moronic, illiterate, education-shy and insolent (and
probably) foreigners now employed as airline security guards.

They thought his Medal of Honor should be taken from him – either because it has points (see the picture) and therefore is a “weapon,” or because they just wanted it.

People passing through checkpoints have learned that guard greed is a great motivator of jewelry confiscation.

He should probably get another Medal of Honor for that.

You know, reasoning with security goons, foolhardy valor; same difference.

What Happened in Phoenix?

Basically, “security” goons working for America West treated Foss like dirt (or any unclean word of your preference). They tried to run him through a machine that could have stopped his
pacemaker, killing him. They played a shoes-off, shoes-on game with
him over and over, helped themselves to a few of his trinkets, and
most egregiously, they seem to have attempted to steal his Medal of
Honor.

“I was sizzling,” Foss remembers. "They're so nuts about this thing now,” he told the Associated Press. “That whole program needs to go back… and start from
square one. It's nutty. Why should you have to go through such a
hassle?” He told the Washington Times, "They just didn't know
what it was but they acted like I shouldn't be carrying it on. I
kept explaining that it was the highest medal you can receive from
the military in this country, but nobody listened."

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