branch death_place death_date birth_place allegiance unit awards birth_date nickname rank article_title name
united states air force missoula , montana 21 march 2011 richmond , virginia united states montana air national guard silver star légion d'honneur 9 october 1911 bo brigadier general mayhew foster
 mayhew foster
mayhew foster

mayhew y. `` bo '' foster -lrb- october 9 , 1911 -- march 21 , 2011 -rrb- was an american soldier who flew captured nazi war criminal hermann göring from austria to germany for interrogation by the 7th army .
for his actions in world war ii , foster was awarded both the silver star and the légion d'honneur .
at the end of the war , göring surrendered to the allied powers in the bavarian alps .
on may 9 , 1945 , foster transported göring back to germany on a 55-minute flight in an unescorted , unarmed l-5 , a larger plane than the l4 he normally piloted , because göring weighed more than .
according to `` china daily '' , in a letter to his wife , virginia , written at the time , foster describes his first impression of göring as `` effeminate gave me the creeps ... several times i had the impulse to turn the plane over and see if i could shake him out , but he was wedged in like a champagne cork . ''
foster said that göring , who spoke some english , avoided any talk of adolf hitler , with whom göring - as the commander of the luftwaffe - had fallen out of favor as the total german defeat neared .
`` he acted as though he was going on a sightseeing tour , or really as though i was going on a sightseeing tour , and he was showing me where he grew up .
i had a .45 in a shoulder holster , but he could n't reach that .
but neither could i , because i had two hands controlling the plane . ''
foster further recalled göring as having been sharp , friendly , and witty , having joked when foster asked him when germany began manufacturing jets .
`` too late , '' göring was said to have answered .
foster continued : `` i could see that he was like one of our officers if he 'd been picked up .
i would n't say it changed my view of the war , but it showed me that there are did not finish the statement ... .
well , i questioned all that we knew about these vicious people . ''
göring was convicted of war crimes and committed suicide in october 1946 by taking a cyanide capsule before he could be hanged by the nuremberg authorities .
by october 1945 , foster was back in the united states , having flown seventy reconnaissance combat missions during his wartime service .
he returned to his adopted home state of montana , where he was appointed lieutenant colonel in the montana army national guard .
he was thereafter promoted to brigadier general , a rank that he held from 1963 until 1971 .
a native of richmond , virginia , foster graduated in 1937 with a degree in english from yale university in new haven , connecticut .
he and his wife , virginia lou foster -lrb- february 15 , 1916 -- may 7 , 1993 -rrb- were married in 1940 .
the couple had one daughter , susan carol foster korkalo -lrb- 1944 -- 2007 -rrb- .
foster received the silver star for his wartime service in southern france in 1944 .
it was not until 2009 that he received the french legion of honor , when pierre vimont , the french ambassador to the united states , released a letter hailing foster for his `` personal , precious contribution to the united states ' decisive role in the liberation of our country during world war ii . ''
foster died at the age of ninety-nine in a nursing home in missoula , montana .
his last city of residence was livingston in park county , montana .
survivors included son-in-law roy e. korkalo of livingston , grandson chris korkalo , and a sister , priscilla f. howell .
