Bidspirit auction | WW2 MOH winner Joseph Jacob

WW2 MOH winner Joseph Jacob Foss CMH signed 1989 US T-Rex FDC. Joseph Jacob Foss (April 17, 1915 - January 1, 2003) was a United States Marine Corps Major and a leading Marine fighter ace in World War II. He received the Medal of Honor in recognition of his role in air combat during the Guadalcanal campaign. In postwar years, he was an Air National Guard Brigadier General, served as the 20th Governor of South Dakota (1955-1959), president of the National Rifle Association of America (NRA) and the first commissioner of the American Football League. He also was a television broadcaster. In October 1942, VMF-121 pilots and aircraft were sent to Guadalcanal as part of Operation Watchtower to relieve VMF-223, which had been fighting for control of the air over the island since mid-August.[10] On October 9, Foss and his group were catapult launched off the USS Copahee escort carrier and flew 350 miles (560 km) north to reach Guadalcanal. The air group, code named ”Cactus”, based at Henderson Field became known as the Cactus Air Force, and their presence played a pivotal role in the Battle of Guadalcanal. Foss soon gained a reputation for aggressive close-in fighter tactics and uncanny gunnery skills.[13][Note 2] Foss shot down a Japanese Zero on his first combat mission on October 13, but his own F4F Wildcat was shot up as well, and with a dead engine and three more Zeros on his tail, he landed at full speed, with no flaps and minimal control on Henderson Field, barely missing a grove of palm trees. On 7 November his Wildcat was again hit, and he survived a ditching in the sea off the island of Malaita. An alternate logo used by the Marine Fighting Squadron 115 was ”.. drawn by the Disney Studios (...) is exemplary of the squadron itself, and the cigar pays tribute to Major Joe Foss' ever-present 'stogie' (...) the name was chosen by popular vote.” As lead pilot in his flight of eight Wildcats, the group soon became known as ”Foss's Flying Circus”, with two sections Foss nicknamed ”Farm Boys” and ”City Slickers.” In December 1942, Foss contracted malaria. He was sent to Sydney, Australia for rehabilitation, where he met Australian ace Clive ”Killer” Caldwell and delivered some lectures on operational flying to RAF pilots, newly assigned to the theatre. On January 1, 1943, Foss returned to Guadalcanal, to continue combat operations which lasted until February 9, 1943, although the Japanese attacks had waned from the height of the November 1942 crisis.[18] In three months of sustained combat, Foss's Flying Circus had shot down 72 Japanese aircraft, including 26 credited to him.[19] Upon matching the record of 26 kills held by America's top World War I ace, Eddie Rickenbacker, Foss was accorded the honor of becoming America's first ”ace-of-aces” in World War II. One of the Japanese he shot down was ace Kaname Harada, who became a peace activist and met Foss many years later. Foss returned to the United States in March 1943. On May 18, 1943, Foss received the Medal of Honor from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The White House ceremony was featured in Life magazine, with the reluctant Captain Foss appearing on the magazine's cover. He then was asked to participate in a war bond tour that stretched into 1944. Good condition Est.