Collection: Signature: Foster, Hook Wynn

On 23 July 1966 Wynn Foster was flying his 163rd combat mission of the Vietnam War when anti-aircraft artillery hit his A-4 Skyhawk. 39 year old Commander Wynn Franklin Foster USN ejected from his Douglas A-4E Skyhawk single seat attack aircraft. The aircraft, AH/30, 'Old Salt One', belonging to VA-163 / Air Wing 16 from the carrier USS Oriskany (CVA-34) was flying an Alpha Strike mission through a clear sky with scattered cumulus over the Gulf of Tonkin when it was struck by Vietnamese AAA. The enemy fire severed his right arm at the elbow. Bleeding profusely, his still-gloved hand lying on the starboard console, Foster flew his plane out over the Tonkin Gulf and ejected. Foster's aggressive response to his life-altering injury threw him into conflict with his care providers and officers and bureaucrats in the Navy's hierarchy. Confident that he could continue to be of service to the Navy, he embarked on a long legal battle to remain on active duty, finally winning the right to complete his naval career. Promoted to captain and awarded the call sign 'Captain Hook', he made two subsequent deployments to the Western Pacific. Captain Wynn Foster was willing to test society's preconceptions about the handicapped, and his case was ultimately successful because he was willing to test his own limits. He died on 9th June 2013.