Mayhew 'Bo' Foster | Transported Goering, 99

Mayhew "Bo" Foster, 99, a World War II Army pilot who transported the onetime heir to Adolf Hitler for interrogation in an unarmed, unescorted plane, died last Monday at a nursing home in Missoula, Mont.

He served as brigadier general of the Montana National Guard, was awarded the Silver Star for valor as an artillery air officer, and received the French Legion of Honor for his service in World War II.

But his mission flying Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering was the highlight of his military career. The head of Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe had surrendered when the war ended in Europe in 1945, and Gen. Foster flew him from Kitzbuhel, Austria, to Seventh Army headquarters in Germany for interrogation before turning him over to stand trial at Nuremberg.

Gen. Foster said that Goering was relaxed during the 55-minute flight, avoiding any talk of Hitler or the war and instead pointed out the sights below them.

Goering was found guilty of war crimes at Nuremberg but killed himself by swallowing a cyanide capsule before a hanging sentence could be carried out.

Gen. Foster returned to the United States in October 1945, having flown 70 reconnaissance combat missions. He was awarded the Silver Star after spending five hours taking fire above the battlefield when the 36th Division made an amphibious assault landing in southern France in 1944.

He returned to Montana and was appointed lieutenant colonel in the Montana National Guard, then was promoted to brigadier general of the Guard, a rank he held from 1963 until 1971.

Gen. Foster was born in Richmond, Va., and graduated from Yale University in 1937 with an English degree.

- AP