USS Foss

USS Foss (DE-59) was a of the United States Navy, in service from 1943 to 1957. She was sunk as a target in September 1966. Namesake Rodney Shelton Foss was born on 8 May 1919 in Monticello, Arkansas to George and Linnie Shelton Foss. The family moved to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where he graduated from Pine Bluff High School. He attended the University of Arkansas and Louisiana State University before entering the military. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy on 5 September 1940 and received training at Northwestern University in Chicago and was commissioned as an Ensign. Foss was stationed to Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, assigned to Patrol Squadron 11 (VP-11). Foss was the graveyard shift duty officer when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor at 07:52 on 7 December 1941. Foss was due to be relieved just as Japanese aircraft began strafing the flight line occupied by VP-11 and VP-12 and the two rows of the squadrons' PBY Catalina aircraft lined up neatly along the ramp area between the hangar and the sea wall. Because they approached from the north, the Japanese arrived at NAS Kaneohe several minutes before the rest of the attack force reached Pearl Harbor, making the shots fired at Kaneohe the first fired in the attack. Foss was struck and killed instantly by a 20mm cannon shell during the first strafing run, making him one of the first U.S. casualties in the Pacific War. He was interred in Oakland Cemetery. He was posthumously awarded a Commendation, a Pacific Fleet medal, and a Purple Heart. History Foss was launched on 10 April 1943 by Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard, Hingham, Massachusetts; sponsored by Mrs. George R. Foss, mother of Ensign Foss; and commissioned on 23 July 1943.